Famous battle of Ruapekapeka brought to digital life

ON SITE: Te Ruapekapeka Management Trust chairman Peeni Henare (left) listens keenly as archaeologist Jono Gardner talks about the excavation of a British military camp at the historic site. PHOTO/RON BURGIN

The historic battle of Ruapekapeka will be relived - again and again - through a website that takes people inside the story of warlord Te Ruki Kawiti and the seige of the Bats' Nest by the British.

Yesterday, a replica 3-inch mortar, similar to some used during the battle of the "Bat's Nest", ensured an on-site announcement about the website went with a bang.

That blast occurred at the spot where archaeologist Jono Gardner is leading a dig, the site on which 1000-strong British military force and about 500 Maori allies were stationed, 500 metres from the pa.

The website to be launched next Friday by partners Department of Conservation and Te Ruapekapeka Management Trust combines oral and visual history and digital recreations of the pa. It comes with a quick response code enabling visitors with smartphone to access those images and overviews of the battle. It will also enable people to submit family history and other knowledge about Ruapekapeka, the Maori or British involved, the site's later history, relics that may have been collected there or any information.

"The website is an exciting opportunity to share our national heritage with the world," said Ruapekapeka Trust chairman Peeni Henare.

"The very real and personal stories of Te Ruapekapeka are shared on the website by our elders and the opportunity for others to contribute adds to the historical conversation. I am particularly excited by the prospect of connecting with a younger audience, for they are the future.

"Now the rich history of Te Ruapekapeka is recorded and will never be lost to the memory of time."

Ruapekapeka Pa - the Bats' Nest - is the site of the last battle in Northland's "Flagstaff Wars" between the British Colonial Forces and Ngapuhi, early in 1846. Te Ruki Kawiti built the pa, with double palisades and complex network of tunnels and trenches, to withstand British firepower. On New Year's day 1846, the British began a two-week bombardment with cannons, howitzers, mortars and rockets but before the fortress could be breached, Kawiti and his men slipped away under cover of darkness.

The Ruapekapeka Trust represents descendants of Kawiti, and iwi of Ngati Manu, Ngati Kahukuri, Ngati Hau, Ngati Hine, Te Kapotai and Ngapuhi Nui Tonu, plus DoC, and has overseen the site's restoration since 2002.

Last year Ruapekapeka was awarded a prestigious United Kingdom-sourced Green Flag Award for international tourism excellence and in 2008 the Institution of Professional Engineers of New Zealand (IPENZ) recognised it as a national site of engineering significance.

Interested members of the public are invited to attend the official launch of the Ruapekapeka Website next Friday, 9am, at the Old Library, Whangarei.