Te Kooti escapes from Rēkohu

Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Tūruki belonged to Ngāti Maru, a hapū (sub-tribe) of the Poverty Bay iwi Rongowhakaata. In November 1865 he fought on the government side at the siege of Waerenga-a-Hika, near Tūranga (Gisborne), but on 21 November he was arrested 'on suspicion of being a spy'. The charge could not be proved and he was released. In early March 1866 he was arrested again, this time accused of warning a Pai Mārire leader, Ānaru Mātete, of military action against him. The resident magistrate at Tūranga, Reginald Biggs, sent him to Napier with a boatload of Pai Mārire prisoners. Te Kooti appealed to the government agent Donald McLean on 4 June for a hearing of the charges; the next day, 5 June 1866, he was shipped to Wharekauri (Chatham Island, known to its Moriori people as Rēkohu) with the other prisoners, roughly 800 km south-east of Wellington. NZHistory describes the spying charge as 'probably trumped up'.

On Wharekauri, during bouts of fever early in 1867, Te Kooti had visions. In the first entry in his diary, on 21 February 1867, he described being raised up by the 'Spirit of God', and he began holding religious services among the prisoners. By June 1868 the resident magistrate had placed him in solitary confinement, but Ringatū accounts say he slipped out each night to lead prayers. On 4 July 1868 he led the escape. NZHistory counts 163 men and 135 women and children; the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography gives 163 men, 64 women and 71 children, the same total of 298. They seized the supply schooner Rifleman, the redoubt and the guards, taking arms, ammunition and money. One guard, Michael Harnett, was killed against Te Kooti's instructions. Headwinds slowed the voyage until Te Kooti demanded a sacrifice: greenstone and other treasures, and his uncle Te Wārihi Pōtini, believed to be a spy, were thrown overboard.

The Rifleman reached Whareongaonga, south of Poverty Bay. NZHistory's account of the war dates the landfall to the evening of 9 July; the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Te Ara and NZHistory's own biography of Te Kooti give 10 July. The crew were paid and released. Te Kooti ordered the sacrifice of a pig and a fowl in thanksgiving and told the people they would no longer kneel to pray but would raise a hand at the end of their prayers. From that gesture, ringa tū (upraised hand), the faith took its name. Biggs sent emissaries demanding that the whakarau (exiles) surrender their weapons. Te Kooti replied that they wanted to be left alone to go inland to Waikato, and would fight only if 'pursued and attacked'. No promises were made beyond an investigation, and in Judith Binney's words 'the war began with Biggs's decision that they had to be stopped'. Te Kooti defeated the forces sent against him at Pāparatū on 20 July, at Te Kōneke on 24 July and in the Ruakituri Gorge on 8 August.

Refused entry to the King Country by Tāwhiao and without a firm commitment from Tūhoe, Te Kooti turned back on Poverty Bay and attacked Matawhero in November 1868. A year of raids, sieges and escapes followed, including the ambush at Ōpepe in June 1869 and his defeat at Te Pōrere in October 1869, after which he fought only as a guerrilla. The Native Minister, Donald McLean, then left the pursuit to Māori forces, and a reward of £5000 was offered for Te Kooti's capture. One by one Tūhoe leaders were forced to surrender as Te Arawa, Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Porou destroyed their crops and villages. On 15 May 1872 Te Kooti reached Arowhena in the King Country with Hēni Kumekume, probably another woman, and six men. Te Ara records this as the end of the wars. NZHistory says Tāwhiao granted him sanctuary, while Binney writes that Tāwhiao still rejected him; both agree that Te Kooti did not declare peace until September 1873.

Te Kooti lived at Te Kūiti for the next decade, developing the rituals, texts and prayers of the Ringatū church. He was formally pardoned in 1883, at Rewi Maniapoto's insistence, and on 12 February exchanged pledges of peace with the Native Minister, John Bryce. He was never allowed to return to Poverty Bay. When he set out to do so in 1889 he was arrested and convicted of unlawful assembly, and released on condition that he never go back. He died at Ōhiwa Harbour on 17 April 1893. Binney concluded that 'the well-springs of the war were his unjust imprisonment and bitter pursuit'. NZHistory ranks him among the most significant Māori leaders of the 19th century, and his Ringatū faith remains strong in the eastern Bay of Plenty and on the East Coast.