The Völkner incident describes the murder of the German-born

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

missionary

Carl Sylvius Völkner Carl Sylvius Völkner ( – 2 March 1865) was a German-born Protestant missionary in New Zealand who was hanged and decapitated at his church grounds on the east coast of the North Island in what became known as the Völkner Incident. Biograp ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in 1865 and what was seen by some to be the consequent

miscarriage of justice A miscarriage of justice occurs when a grossly unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. Miscarriages are also known as wrongful convictions. Inno ...

by the

Government of New Zealand , background_color = #012169 , image = New Zealand Government wordmark.svg , image_size=250px , date_established = , country = New Zealand , leader_title = Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern , appointed = Governor-General , main_organ = , ...

during the

New Zealand Wars The New Zealand Wars took place from 1845 to 1872 between the New Zealand colonial government and allied Māori on one side and Māori and Māori-allied settlers on the other. They were previously commonly referred to as the Land Wars or the ...

Background

The Battle of Te Ranga, on 21 June 1864, was the last major conflict of the

Tauranga Campaign The Tauranga campaign was a six-month-long armed conflict in New Zealand's Bay of Plenty in early 1864, and part of the New Zealand Wars that were fought over issues of land ownership and sovereignty. The campaign was a sequel to the invasion o ...

and is said to mark the effective end of the fighting involved with the

Invasion of the Waikato The Invasion of the Waikato became the largest and most important campaign of the 19th-century New Zealand Wars. Hostilities took place in the North Island of New Zealand between the military forces of the colonial government and a federatio ...

. It left an uneasy peace – not so much a peace as an absence of conflict, one that lasted for several months. This period saw two significant changes in disposition of the warring parties. The

Pai Marire Pai or PAI may refer to: People * Pai (surname), Indian surname from coastal Karnataka and Goa plus people with the name * Pai (Chinese surname), includes Chinese name origin, plus people with the name Fictional characters * Pai (Manga charact ...

(or Hauhau) movement, a

syncretic Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thu ...

religious group, was gaining ground and converts among the East Coast

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

. Pai Mārire began in 1862 as a combination of Christianity and traditional Māori beliefs. Originally peaceful, a sub-branch known as Hauhau became violent after experiencing Christian hypocrisy. Meanwhile, the Imperial Troops were fighting their last campaign in New Zealand before being withdrawn to garrison duty and then complete withdrawal from New Zealand. At the same time the Colonial Militia were being reorganised and rearmed to take up the slack.

Völkner's murder

Church of St Stephen the Martyr, Opotiki

Among the Māori community, Völkner was rumoured to be a government spy. It was thought he sent Governor George Grey a plan of a pa near Te Awamutu where British troops burned women and children alive in a whare that had been converted to a church. The wife and two daughters of Kereopa were among the victims. Pai Mārire (or Hauhau) arrived in the Ōpōtiki area of the

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaw ...

in February 1865. On 2 March Protestant missionary Carl Völkner discovered that his Māori congregation had moved on from

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

to Pai Mārire (or Hauhau). Like many Europeans in isolated communities, Völkner had sent reports of anti-Government activity to the governor. Although warned to stay away from the town, on his next visit he was captured, put on trial and hanged from a tree, and his body was decapitated an hour later. Kereopa Te Rau, a Hauhau, was alleged to have re-entered the church and conducted a service with Völkner's head in the pulpit beside him. He was also alleged to have plucked out the dead missionary's eyes and swallowed them. One eye allegedly represented Parliament and the other the Queen and British law. News of the murder caused great alarm and anger among

Pākehā Pākehā (or Pakeha; ; ) is a Māori term for New Zealanders primarily of European descent. Pākehā is not a legal concept and has no definition under New Zealand law. The term can apply to fair-skinned persons, or to any non- Māori New Z ...

Response

For several months nothing happened—then came the capture of Weraroa Pa—the relief of the siege of

Pipiriki Pipiriki is a settlement in New Zealand, on the east bank of the Whanganui River, due west of the town of Raetihi and upriver from Whanganui; it was originally on the opposite bank. It is the home of Ngāti Kura, a hapū of the Ngāti Ruanui iwi ...

in August 1865 that virtually ended that phase of the

Second Taranaki War The Second Taranaki War is a term used by some historians for the period of hostilities between Māori and the New Zealand Government in the Taranaki district of New Zealand between 1863 and 1866. The term is avoided by some historians, who ei ...

. This freed up the militia for action elsewhere. In September 1865, the forces then available to the New Zealand government, some 500 men, were transported by ''HMS Eclipse'' from

Wanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whang ...

through

Cook Strait Cook Strait ( mi, Te Moana-o-Raukawa) separates the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The strait connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast. It is wide at its narrowest point,McLintock, A ...

, around the

East Cape East Cape is the easternmost point of the main islands of New Zealand. It is located at the northern end of the Gisborne District of New Zealand's North Island. It can also refer to the broader Gisborne cape. East Cape was originally named "C ...

to Ōpōtiki. The composition of this force was significant. There were four companies of militia, a troop of cavalry and a contingent of

Ngāti Hau Ngāti Hau are the Māori ''iwi'' (tribes) of the Whanganui River area in New Zealand. There are two stories of where the name ''Ngāti Hau'' comes from. One is that it comes from Haupipi, who arrived in New Zealand on the '' Aotea'' canoe, aft ...

warriors led by

Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui (died 15 April 1898) was a Māori military commander and noted ally of the government forces during the New Zealand Wars. First known as Te Rangihiwinui, he was later known as Te Keepa, Meiha Keepa, Major Keepa or Ma ...

. These were the units that had already been campaigning together during the Taranaki War and had a history of successful cooperation and mutual respect. The landing at Ōpōtiki was accomplished with difficulty. One of the ships ran aground on a falling tide and came under fire from the shore. Eventually it had to be abandoned and the crew and militia waded ashore but it was another twenty-four hours before the other ships were able to land their men and supplies. As soon as they were established and the snipers driven away, the militia occupied the church where Völkner had been murdered. While some of the Pākehā soldiers worked at turning this into a fortress, the others with Keepa and the Ngāti Hau were turned loose on the countryside. They employed the military tactic of denying the enemy food supplies, keeping what they needed and destroying the rest. Beyond a few muskets the East Coast Hauhau lacked many modern weapons with which to defend themselves. This accounts for the numerous one-sided battles and the Hauhau resorting to attempted treachery to defeat the government forces. It was made clear to them that these depredations would continue until the men responsible for the murder of Völkner were captured or surrendered. But the man they wanted most, Kereopa, had retreated to Tuhoe lands in the

Urewera Te Urewera is an area of mostly forested, sparsely populated rugged hill country in the North Island of New Zealand, a large part of which is within a protected area designated in 2014, that was formerly Te Urewera National Park. Te Urewera is ...

mountains and had no intention of surrendering.

Aftermath

By the end of October the local tribe's position was desperate. Some twenty of its chiefs surrendered and were shipped to

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

for trial. Five of them received the death penalty and were hanged the following year. Large areas of land around Ōpōtiki were

confiscated Confiscation (from the Latin ''confiscatio'' "to consign to the ''fiscus'', i.e. transfer to the treasury") is a legal form of seizure by a government or other public authority. The word is also used, popularly, of spoliation under legal forms, ...

under the ''New Zealand Settlements Act of 1863'' and sold to settlers. In the early 1870s, the Ureweras were invaded by the government forces searching for

Te Kooti Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki (c. 1832–1893) was a Māori leader, the founder of the Ringatū religion and guerrilla fighter. While fighting alongside government forces against the Hauhau in 1865, he was accused of spying. Exiled to the Cha ...

and the Tuhoe were effectively conquered and subdued. They were forced to yield Kereopa to Ropata Wahawaha, and he was tried and hanged for Völkner's murder on 5 January 1872. Some Crown witnesses in the trial were given immunity from prosecution in exchange for their testimony, and Kereopa had no defence witnesses because the Crown would not pay for their travel from Napier. The jury took only about 15 minutes to return their verdict. Kereopa's iwi Ngati Rangiwewehi say that the trial had a predetermined outcome and was a miscarriage of justice. In 1993, Justice Minister Doug Graham delivered an apology to Te Whakatōhea along with an official pardon of Mokomoko, one of the chiefs hanged. In 1996, the New Zealand Government signed a Deed of Settlement, acknowledging and apologising for the wrongful invasion and confiscation of Te Whakatōhea lands, and the subsequent economic, cultural and developmental devastation suffered by the iwi. In 1998 the New Zealand government offered the Whakatōhea iwi NZ$40 million as compensation for all their historical claims including the invasion and the confiscation of land following the Völkner Incident; however the offer was not accepted. Te Whakatōhea are presently preparing to negotiate a full settlement with the New Zealand Government. As part of the settlement of neighbouring iwi

Ngāti Awa Ngāti Awa is a Māori iwi (tribe) centred in the eastern Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand. It is made of 22 hapū (subtribes), with 15,258 people claiming affiliation to the iwi in 2006. The Ngāti Awa people are primarily located in towns ...

's claims in 2003, the Völkner Rocks near Whakaari/White Island were renamed "Te Paepae Aotea (Völkner Rocks)".Margaret Wilson
Deed of Settlement Between the Crown and Ngati Awa
press release, beehive.govt.nz, 27 March 2003. Kereopa was posthumously pardoned in November 2014. This means that Kereopa is no longer guilty of the murder of Völkner. This pardon was part of the Ngāti Rangiwewehi Treaty of Waitangi settlement.

References

External links

Pai Marire and the death of Carl Völkner, 2 March 1865
{{DEFAULTSORT:Volkner Incident Murder in New Zealand Conflicts in 1865 New Zealand Wars 1865 in New Zealand History of the Bay of Plenty Region March 1865 events 1865 murders in New Zealand