0ffically born on the 25th March 1845 with the signing of the
country's first Militia Ordinance into law, New Zealand's ARMY had its origins a decade earlier. The first European New Zealand military force was an embryonic volunteer unit, the Kororareka Association. Formed in 1834, the association had an intermittent existence until 1838. When established, the
organization's task was the preservation of the persons and property of Kororareka. Each member of the Association was required to arm himself with a musket, bayonet, brace of pistols, a cutlass and thirty rounds of ball cartridge.
Equally as important as the Kororareka Association, was the New Zealand
Company Militia. In September 1839 at Gravesend, just as the first New Zealand Company emigrant ships were about to set sail, G. F. Young a director of the company held a series of meetings to gain support for the establishment of a defence force. The majority of the emigrants were convinced by Young's arguments of the necessity of an armed force to preserve both peace and property and quickly signed up for
the Voluntary Militia. The emigrants agreed that males from 18 to 60 years of
age would muster for drill under the command of the company's principal agent for one hour each week. The company, on the
other hand, accepted the responsibility of arming the militia: as well as organising the training programme.
With the signing of the Treaty of
Waitangi on 6 February 1840, and formal annexation of New Zealand by Britain, central authority was exercised by the office of
Governor. One of the many problems faced by Hobson, the first Governor, was maintenance of security. Lamenting that no adequate provision had been made for a defence force for the new colony, Hobson was advised to make his
own arrangements for raising a militia or armed constabulary.
While it would appear that the logical course of action would have been to develop the existing forces, Hobson was apprehensive that, as basically private armies, they would not carry out the directives of the central authorities. His
concern was so great that he outlawed the New Zealand Company Volunteer Militia. Unfortunately he did not replace the colonists' self-help measure for defence with any other structure. The result of this neglect was, that when trouble threatened in 1841 settlers readily reformed their voluntary armed bands. At Kororareka, Auckland and Wanganui 'volunteer' units sprang up and were quickly organised
into squads and commenced formal training programmes under ex-regular soldiers.
There was a similar result in June 1843 at Nelson in response to the Wairau Affray. Twenty-two surveyors and settlers were killed when they attempted to arrest Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata. When news of the fight reached Nelson, panic swept through the settlement. Fearing a Maori assault on the town, agitated settlers commenced organizing their defences. A central defence organizing committee of leading citizens was immediately appointed to take charge.
A volunteer force was embodied, arms and ammunition from the New Zealand company warehouse issued, a training programme devised and a redoubt constructed. Across Cook Strait, in Nelsons sister
New Zealand Company settlement Wellington, a similar response was given when the same alarm gripped the colonists. A 400 strong Volunteer Militia was formed that met daily for training, redoubts were built and gun positions constructed.
Active measures for defence by the Cook Strait settlements, was in marked contrast to the inactivity of the
Governor. Fitzroy, believing the Nelson settlers were in the wrong over Wairau, refused to take any action against either Te Rauparaha or Te Rangihaeata. This course of action, or more correctly inaction,
resulted in a waning of European anxiety as the Ngati Toa responded in a like manner. This waning was, however, to be relatively short lived. Within a year the seeds were to be sown for the outbreak of hostilities that spread throughout the northern half of the colony. From Kororareka. to Nelson, settlers troubled by the turbulence again looked to their defences and again voluntarily banded together for mutual protection.
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The seeds sown on 8 July 1844 were the result of the Ngapuhi followers of Hone Heke Pokai cutting down the flagstaff at Kororareka. This symbol of British authority was felled by Heke, who was convinced that it challenged the mana of the chiefs. Fearing for their safety, the European inhabitants of Kororareka prepared for war. To avoid a collision, another prominent Ngapuhi
chief, Tamati Waka Nene, calmed Heke and convinced him to replace the fallen flagstaff.
For six months Nene's negotiated calm prevailed until Heke's followers
again brought down the flagstaff on 10 January 1845. Incensed by this second outrage Fitzroy was goaded into activity. He offered a reward for the capture of Hone Heke, sent for troop reinforcements from New South Wales and ordered the re-erection of the flagstaff. In response Heke contemptuously had the symbolic stick of British authority felled for the third time on 19 January 1845. |
Determined not to be got the best of,
Fitzroy ordered Kororareka to be put on virtually a war footing.
The flagstaff was once more erected, this time sheathed with iron, while around the town and flagstaff, blockhouses, earthworks and gun positions were constructed. In addition, a Kororareka Volunteer unit, the 'civil guard', was raised and trained to supplement the
troops. Unfortunately these preparations were uncoordinated due to the lack of an overall commander. The result was formidable defence works that existed in splendid isolation, unable to support each other. This lack of mutual support was fully exploited by the assault forces of Heke and Kawiti on 11 March 1845. They not only toppled the flagstaff, but also the town, leaving it a smoking ruin and killing 13 settlers.
When news of the sacking of Kororareka reached the capital, Auckland, panic reigned. Fearing a direct assault on
Auckland the now well practiced pattern of reviewing their defences. Immediately to strengthen those defences a Volunteer company was embodied. Unlike previous panics which tended to be
very localized affairs, the anxiety caused by the fall of Kororareka spread throughout the colony. In Taranaki, Wanganui, Wellington and Nelson, settlers believed emboldened Maoris
were preparing to challenge British authority.
Community leaders quickly channeled the unproductive anxiety into enthusiastic support for local defence initiatives. In Wellington, for example, the resident Magistrates organised the construction of fortifications, places of refuge, the raising of a volunteer corps and the appointment of officers, the distribution of training manuals, the provision of drill sergeants, the production of a training timetable, alarm. procedures, patrols, pickets, and the distribution of arms, ammunition and equipment. Similar provisions were made by all settlements anxious lest they be attacked.
It is somewhat surprising, given the disturbed state of the colony, that the Governor did not arrange for the formation of a military force.
After all local responses tended to arise from an immediate panic rather than from careful consideration of need. In fact, Fitzroy had toyed with the idea of establishing a standardised Militia force, but was reluctant lest the settlers once armed and trained provoke rather than prevent hostilities. When settlers once again took matters into their own hands and commenced their own ad hoc and disjointed defensive preparations, Fitzroy was forced to act.
On 25 March 1845 he arranged for the first New Zealand Militia ordinance to be passed by the Legislative Council. This ordinance provided a standardised infrastructure for the raising of citizen forces. Males between the ages of 18 and 60 were liable for military service within a 25 mile radius of their nearest police office. Authority was vested firmly in central government and one of the Government's first actions under the ordinance, was to force the disbandment of the various volunteer companies that individual settlements had
raised. These companies were immediately replaced by units of the new Militia. Defence had finally become a central government concern, too important to
be left solely to well meaning but not necessarily well considered local
initiatives. |
