The Harriet affair
- When
- April 1834 – October 1834
- Where
- Te Namu, Ōpunake
- Reach
- Local
A trading ship wrecked near Cape Egmont and its survivors were attacked. The rescue that followed brought British soldiers into combat in New Zealand for the first time.
The Harriet went ashore in a gale in April 1834. Some of the crew were killed by Taranaki and Ngāti Ruanui Māori, and Betty Guard, her two young children and other survivors were held. Her husband sailed to Sydney for help and returned in September with HMS Alligator, the schooner Isabella and sixty soldiers of the 50th Regiment. Pā at Te Namu and Waimate were shelled and burnt, and an elderly chief was shot as he handed back the Guards’ son. Six years before the Crown claimed any authority here, British troops had already fought on New Zealand soil.
Regions affected
Sources
Written for this project from these references rather than copied from them. Follow a link to read the full account, or to check this one against the original.
Related
The Musket Wars
Musket-armed war parties reshaped the map of Māori New Zealand. Perhaps 20,000 died and whole districts changed hands before the fighting burned out around 1840.
First Taranaki War
British artillery opened on Te Kōhia pā, beginning a year of fighting over the Waitara purchase that ended in an inconclusive truce.
Te Kōhia pā, WaitaraTītokowaru’s campaign
Riwha Tītokowaru won a run of victories with a tiny force and had the colonial government close to losing the southern North Island, then his support evaporated.
South TaranakiNew Zealand enters the First World War
About 100,000 served overseas from a population of just over a million. Around 18,000 died and 41,000 were wounded — proportionally among the heaviest losses of any country.