mportance, and why should the battle be regarded as something other than a brief engagement on a muddy hillside on a wet afternoon in April 1864?
While the Imperial troops were in possession of the battlefield on the day after the fight, there is nothing in their correspondence or demeanour to suggest they saw themselves as victors. They clearly saw Gate Pā as a defeat.
But in the shock of defeat, a legend about the chivalrous conduct of the Māori participants was born, so much so that in subsequent years the aftermath of the battle was thought by Pākehā to be worthy of remembrance, even celebration.
It is very rare that there are positives to be drawn from war, but at Gate Pā, the way the Māori fighters conducted themselves is the single aspect of the battle to which both Māori and Pākehā are drawn.
The voluntary code which Māori drew up and fought under best exemplifies that conduct and the humanity needed to give it effect.
That voluntary code is described by some as a precursor for the Geneva Convention. It certainly has some common elements. It required humane treatment by the Māori soldiers of non-combatants — women and children, prisoners, or those who might run away from the battle, “ … being carried away by his fears”.
The code itself is recorded in a letter, dated 28 March 1864, and addressed to the commanding officer in Tauranga at that time, Lt Colonel Henry Greer of the 68th Regiment:
Friend, do you give heed to our laws for regulating the fight.
Rule 1. If wounded or captured whole, and butt of the musket or hilt of the sword be turned to me, he will be saved.
Rule 2. If any Pakeha, being a soldier by name, shall be travelling unarmed and meets me, he will be captured, and handed over to the direction of the law.
Rule 3. The soldier who flees, being carried away by his fears, and goes to the house of the priest with his gun (even though carrying arms) will be saved. I will not go there.
Rule 4. The unarmed Pakehas, women and children, will be spared.
The end. These are binding laws for Tauranga.
The biblical injunction associated with the code comes from the New Testament Book of Romans:
Ki te matekai tou hoariri, whāngainga; ki te matewai, whakainumia
Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink … Romans 12:20
In the heat of battle, the Māori soldiers gave practical effect to their code of conduct and the Christian principles which they embodied. It is probably this juxtaposition of “savages” behaving in such a civilised manner which so captured the Victorian mindset.
What happened at Gate Pā probably helped mould the view that later came to be held by the general who led the troops, Duncan Cameron, that the motives for the war in New Zealand were ill-founded. This view culminated in his falling out with the settler government and his eventual resignation and return to England in August 1865.
This code was also said by some to have been instrumental in forming the Imperial regular force soldier’s later opinion that Māori were worthy opponents and deserving of respect.
Fifty years after the battle in 1914, the Mayor of Tauranga spoke these words at the unveiling of a stone monument to the Ngāiterangi leader at Gate Pā, Rāwiri Puhirake:
The warriors of the native race were always noted for great physical courage. In addition to this, Rawiri held a still greater attribute. He had the moral courage to do what he considered right … He insisted that the prisoners of war should be treated with mercy, and at Gate Pa he himself saw to it that his orders were carried out. It is difficult to estimate the moral courage required for an action of this sort …
The humanity of the Māori defenders at Gate Pā is what makes that battle stand out from every other colonial conflict in this country. It was something that truly captured the Victorian sentiment of the day.
On his return to England in 1868, Augustus Selwyn, chaplain to the troops and the first Anglican Bishop of New Zealand, commissioned a stained glass window commemorating the battle and the Māori chivalry. The windows are in the episco