JJ's Wargames on Tour - North Island, New Zealand - Tawhiti Museum

 

Continuing the theme in my previous post looking at the New Zealand Wars in specific sites Carolyn and I visited in our travels through North Island NZ, link below, I thought I would conclude that particular theme with a post looking at one particular place visited, that brought together for me the aspects I enjoy most in the hobby of historical wargaming, married with this particular era in New Zealand history.

JJ's Wargames- JJ's Wargames on Tour, North Island, New Zealand Wars

The Tawhiti Museum is located in South Taranaki, just outside of Hawera, in a former seventy year old cheese factory and is the fruition of a hobby and small private collection that through the passion of one man, Mr Nigel Ogle, has grown into an impressive visual history of South Taranaki, using a combination of scale model dioramas, actual historical artefacts and life size figures created in the 'body-shop' to tell the story of the area in 'one big art project'.

Just some of the booklets and pamphlets I came away with from the Tawhiti Museum, oh and also a very fetching 'Traders & Whalers - Taranaki' T-shirt to boot.

There is a great quote in the Introduction page of Nigel’s illustrative brochure for the museum which I picked up a copy of, that captures precisely the philosophy behind the creation of Tawhiti and which frankly could well define my own approach to historical wargaming;

‘For me the motivation for a project such as this is really quite complex - a love of old things, a love of social history and community, a love of art and the creative process - it’s all these things and more. It’s about communicating and interpreting, and it’s about respect - respect for our forbears’ skills and craftsmanship, respect for their values and beliefs.’

The opportunity to visit Tawhiti fitted in well with our journey south as we left New Plymouth and I can say that I have never visited anything quite like this amazing museum that combines art and history in such a compelling way.

Not only that but also the opportunity to meet Nigel and chat with him about the models, the sculpting process and painting techniques was for me, someone who delights in that aspect of our hobby, a real treat, with a quick tour of Nigel's studio and painting table for Carolyn and I, thrown in as well. 

This particular group of six life-size Maori figures are clothed and equipped to represent warriors of the 1830's Musket War period. The rain cape (kahu toi) on the figure to the right was a gift from Ria Waikerepuru who made the cloak using harakeke (flax) and ti kouka (cabbage tree) leaves, individually stripped and knotted in a very labour intensive process, producing a very warm, waterproof, everyday garment. 

I of course was specifically interested in the New Zealand Wars collection, but should add that Tawhiti is much more than that, with a broad focus on the social history of South Taranaki in peace and war and the way the lives of its inhabitants have changed in the preceding two-hundred years.

The intense interest shown by the warrior for the two older chiefs discussion really makes this group display come alive. 

As an ex art teacher with an enthusiasm for local history, Nigel's passion for the subject shines through in the models and the themes he has created, an aspect that is only too obvious when talking to him about them, and I loved that passion and would encourage anyone with a similar enthusiasm to visit this remarkable collection, should the opportunity present.

This scene had me imagining Hone Heke in deep discussion with Kawiti, planning their joint attack on 
Kororareka (Russell), during the later Flagstaff War. 

The models below beautifully compare the earthwork fortifications, or pa of the earlier pre-musket period,  versus those adopted after the arrival of muskets in the early 1800s, with, according to Maori tradition, the first such weapons appearing in Taranaki in 1818, when Tu Whare of Nga Puhi and Te Rauparaha of Ngati Toa joined forces against several major Taranaki pa.

The model below is based on the Turuturumokai pa, on the Tawhiti Stream, Hawera.

 

Turuturumokai pa, on the Tawhiti Stream, Hawera, illustrating a pa of the earlier pre-musket period.

With the emphasis on heavy, multi-layered palisades designed to keep out similarly armed attackers from neighbouring iwi, and showing guards armed with long thrusting spears designed to be thrust at opponents from behind those palisades, the high exposed platforms provide little cover from musket armed opponents and there is minimal cover from larger guns, all compounded if the pa was built with nearby ground overlooking it, not a consideration in the pre-musket era.

Often the most effective way of taking these pa, prior to the appearance of black powder weapons was to simply lay siege to them and hope to starve the defenders out.

Below is a model of the Oika pa, above the Whenuakura River, South Taranaki, an early example of a gun-fighters pa with zig-zag trenches.

Oika pa, above the Whenuakura River, South Taranaki.

The palisades have loopholes at the bottom to allow the defenders in the rearward trench to fire out at approaching attackers while providing excellent cover from return fire, and the interior area provides similar cover, together with underground living quarters, proof against indirect shell fire and allowing a continued defence should the outer perimeter be penetrated.

 

Alongside the displays of pre and post-gunpowder defences were several display cabinets of period weapons, equipment and battlefield finds.

By the 1860's significant changes in firearm technology had occurred with flintlock muskets, principally the old British Brown Bess, being replaced with percussion cap muzzle-loading rifled muskets, using a small copper cap of explosive replacing the cumbersome flint-lock mechanism, bringing greater reliability of ignition, particularly in wet weather, and with the rifling vastly improving accuracy over the smooth-bore predecessor.

Examples of typical Maori weapons, including captured Enfield rifled muzzle-loading musket, smooth bore, muzzle-loading trade musket, various muzzle-loading shotguns, the trusty patiti or tomahawk and bullet moulds for musket balls.

For close combat, typical Maori weapons would include the tomahawk seen in the cabinet above and the more traditional patu seen below, with British and Colonial troops likely using the pistol,  tomahawk, fighting knife and bayonet.

Brass survives well in the ground and is well illustrated by the condition of the regimental buttons

Battlefield finds

Really interesting to see these finds from Te Arei pa, one of the sites in Taranaki we managed to get a look at on our trip as covered in the previous post - link above.

For a time, Maori and Pakeha were equal with regard to firearm technology, both using muzzle loaded percussion rifled muskets. However the big breakthrough came with breech-loading weapons, making it no-longer necessary to stand to reload the weapon, and thus exposed to enemy fire, seeing the combined cap, powder and projectile slid into the breech end of the barrel.

The new weapons seen below gave a great advantage to Pakhea soldiers, despite some weapons falling into the hands of Maori, but limiting their use by them, due to the need for a reliable supply of the special cartridges.

Pakeha's Short Weapons for Bush Fighting, left to right
Snider Enfield 0.577 calibre carbine, Calisher & Terry breech loading carbine, Snider Cavalry 0.577 calibre carbine, Colt percussion revolver and holster 0.36 calibre, various fighting knives used for close combat instead of the bayonet, Armed Constabulary Field Force sword and scabbard and leather covered drink bottle favoured by the Forest Rangers.

As mentioned in my previous post, a large aspect of the the New Zealand Wars is all about the personalities involved and Nigel has captured that aspect in his collection with a focus on specific characters who figured large in the struggle between Maori and Pakeha in Taranaki.

I included a brief outline of the career of the flamboyant and colourful character that was Prussian born Gustavus Ferdinand Von Tempsky in my previous post, who became a folk hero during the wars commanding the Forest Rangers and later the Armed Constabulary.

His rather robust attitude to how the war should be fought against the rebel Maori seemed to stand in stark contrast to the romantic view of Maori life he expressed through his series of accomplished water-colour paintings, that provide a record of events that were witnessed by the man at the time rather than a romantic second-hand impression created long after the events depicted.

Nigel has created a rather stunning life-size impression of von Tempsky alongside two other figures that reference other personalities that figured large in the several campaigns fought in Taranaki, namely another soldier-artist Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Arthur Williams R.A., who accompanied the army of Lieutenant-General Duncan Cameron as it commenced a three month march through South Taranaki in 1865 from Whanganui to the Waingongoro River, just west of Hawera.

The 57th Regiment of Foot also played a major part in the war in Taranaki that began in 1860 with the First Taranaki War, developing into a rather bitter struggle in South Taranaki in 1864 when the Pai-marire spiritual movement welded further Maori resistance to Pakeha land purchases.

In March 1864 the 57th were ordered south from New Plymouth to Manawapou to establish a camp in preparation for operations against the rebels, that introduces visitors to the other key character in the story of the area, namely Private Kimble Bent; an American enlisted man, who decided after experiencing the rather rough justice that typified life in the British army of that period, to desert to the Maori, later providing an account of his adventures, witnessing the effects of the brutal warfare that characterised these final campaigns.

As the war progressed into these latter campaigns, the British Army gradually drew down its manpower commitment to the fighting, that saw an ever increasing component of field armies being made up of locally raised troops.

Indeed from 1866 onwards, operations in the area were conducted almost exclusively by New Zealand troops, composed of Colonial troops and allied Maori known as Kupapa, and these irregular forces commonly known as the New Zealand Armed Constabulary are wonderfully evoked by the models of von Tempsky and the very irregular looking men that operated alongside him.

Below is a marvellous diorama recreating the battle of Te Ngutu-o-te-manu fought on the 7th September 1868, when the Pai-marire leader Titokowaru successfully provoked an attack by Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas McDonnell’s Colonial army against the Te Ngutu pa.

The battle was the result of a third advance against the palisaded village of Te Ngutu with clearings on the advance to it surrounded with thick bush, concealing carefully prepared rifle pits, lookout platforms and connecting tunnels, together with loopholes cut through the bases of large hollow trees.

The advancing 360 man column struggled to find targets whilst all the while receiving incoming fire from all directions and Titokowaru skilfully manoeuvred his sixty man force, keeping twenty with him to hold the village and pa, whilst directing the other forty to advance to meet the Pakeha column, occupying the prepared rifle pits in ambush.

Colonel McDonnell could see his men being bowled over one by one, seeing the inexperienced volunteers from the Wellington Rangers and Rifles bunching together and either freezing or panicking in their attempts to get away.

McDonnell reluctantly gave the order to retreat whilst recovering and carrying out the wounded as he commanded a rear guard of eighty men to cover their withdrawal. Major Gustavus von Tempsky was shot dead close to the palisade along with two captains and two lieutenants as the Hauhau warriors picked off any obvious leaders looking to rally or command nearby troops.

The battle was a shattering defeat to match that at the Battle of Puketakuere in the First Taranaki War, seeing the resulting confidence among local Maori in Titokowaru’s ability to defeat the Colonial forces immediately increase his little guerrilla force from sixty warriors to nearly two-hundred, which together with von Tempsky’s death saw many volunteers deserting and returning home together with allied kupapa, forcing many settlers to desert their farms in the wider country as confidence in the authorities to gain control of the situation waned.

Kimble Bent was born in Eastport, Maine, USA, on the 24th August 1837 and at the age of 17 ran away to sea, ending up penniless in Liverpool three years later in 1859, to take the Queen’s shilling and enlist in ‘Her Majesty’s 57th Regiment of Foot.

He soon decided to desert, and stowed away on a ship bound for Boston, only to have the ship return to Glasgow after taking severe storm damage, where Bent was arrested and returned to his regiment, which he remained with for two years service in India before being sent to New Zealand, first Auckland, and then New Plymouth.

On June 12th, 1865, Bent deserted again and in such desperation to escape the army that he was prepared to risk his life by taking his chances with the local Maori.

He surrendered himself to Tito te Hanataua and would spend the next thirteen years with the Ngati Ruanui, constantly on the move through South Taranaki, witnessing pa building, desperate battles, cannibal feasts and tribal ceremonies.

His story would emerge in 1906 after providing testament of his extraordinary experiences to the historian/journalist James Cowan who met with him and published his story in ten parts in the New Zealand Times, and later in book form in 1911, under the title of ‘The Adventures of Kimble Bent.’

Kimble Bent died in Blenheim, New Zealand on the 22nd May 1916 at the age of 79, after having generally avoided contact with Europeans in the post war period, still largely reviled as a traitor.

‘The white man hesitated only a moment. Then he boldly stepped out onto the track, directly in front of the startled Maori.’

A series of model dioramas beautifully capture key moments from Bent’s story as detailed in the book.

Now out of print, I understand from Nigel that he is planning to get a reprint of ‘The Adventures of Kimble Bent, produced and that copies will be available at some stage in the near future.

‘Men leaped from the flax whariki (mats), where they had been drowsing away the afternoon . . . and poured out of the narrow gateway armed with their guns and tomahawks. When they saw that the European was a harmless, unarmed individual, and that he was apparently the prisoner of one of their own people, the clamour died away, and they escorted the soldier and his captor into the pa.’

Edward Arthur Williams was born in 1824 and joined the British Army as a 'gentleman cadet' at the age of fifteen, and by 1862 was a Lieutenant-Colonel, Royal Artillery.

He would spend a total of forty-six years in military service, two of them (1864-1866) in New Zealand commanding the artillery in the Waikato, Tauranga and Whanganui/Taranaki campaigns.

Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Arthur Williams, R.A.

While in New Zealand, Williams produced two sketchbooks of paintings and coloured sketches, with his work rated the best out of a group of ten other officer-artists.

An example of his work, 'Soldiers crossing the Tangahoe River, 1865, illustrates his undoubted talent, and Williams would very often include notes with his pictures to record the difficulties encountered by the troops seen in the country depicted, with this particular example recording on the back in March 1865;

'After crossing the Ingahape, the troops marched along the sand at low water and commenced crossing the Tangahoe, which is only half a mile beyond. 

Its banks are quite as high and steep as the former, and it was necessary to make several cuttings to enable the carts and bullock-drays to get up to the fine table-land beyond. 

The sea comes up to the cliffs at high water.'

Interestingly, it was at this time that Kimble Bent deserted from the camp above the Tangahoe River.

Soldiers crossing the Tangahoe River, 1865 - E. A. Williams

The diorama bringing to life the scene pictured above by Colonel Williams, with the artist at his easel.

'A Stroll on the Beach - Mount Egmont in the Distance, 16th February 1865 - E. A.Wiliams

The scene depicted above and below is believed to be in the Waliinu/Kai Iwi beach area, south of Waverley, with Williams noting that it was 'Daybreak, after marching all night - Wanganui Campaign'. The thinking being that they probably needed to march all night to catch the low tide and take advantage of easier progress along the extensive sandy beaches in the area.

The 150 figures in this diorama represent one fifth of the actual force of 3,000 men that marched along the beach in 1865, with some of the men wearing the summer issue white linen or cotton cap cover known as a 'havelock' after its designer Sir Henry Havelock and intended to give the wearer some protection on the neck from the sun.

The diorama seen below is a wonder to see and has used the paintings of A. E. Williams as its primary reference source, with the artwork concerned referenced along the bottom length of the display cabinet.

Williams brought a military eye to his art that records in an accurate representation the great difficulties experienced moving and supplying a force of 3,000 men up the South Taranaki coast, now further brought to life by these superb models.

In the museum's illustrative brochure, Nigel devotes a section about modelling the New Zealand landscape, a subject dear to the heart of any historical gamer looking to recreate this interesting period on the table, and indeed with that idea in mind, I have had much enjoyment photographing remaining examples of the New Zealand 'bush', to record for future reference the many types of ferns, tree ferns rata and flax.

Pictures such as these, from the collection by Thomas St Clair, influenced my efforts for my Peninsular terrain collection.

I well remember my own efforts in pulling together a Peninsular War look for my Napoleonic table, pouring over contemporary paintings such as those seen above by the great artist Thomas St Clair, and I smiled when I read Nigel's comments;

'Finding materials and developing techniques for replicating tree ferns, nikau, flax, toetoe, etc in the various scales . . . is always a challenge . . problem solving the production issues and finding better ways of creating the NZ look - so essential for a diorama (and wargaming table) when trying to convey a particular time and place.'

Whanganui Native Cavalry water and rest their horses as they enter South Taranaki, January 1869. Four months after the disaster at Te Ngutu, Colonel McDonnell took a group of mounted kupapa to ascertain whether the site had been reoccupied.

I think you will agree the effort has been so worthwhile when you get to admire this amazing collection and the way it does indeed create that 'NZ Look' to help bring to life this very interesting military theme.

Equipping kupapa with the latest weapons, equipment and horses caused considerable acrimony with Pakeha cavalry, who considered themselves the elite of the colonial forces, subsequently refusing to serve alongside the kupapa and thus sent back to camp to await disciplinary action.

In conclusion, thank you to Nigel Ogle for putting together such an extraordinary collection of figures and exhibits that brings history alive in such a compelling way and for taking time out from the shop counter to chat model making and painting, that has left me feeling inspired with thoughts of new projects and collections.

This post is a great way to conclude my look at the New Zealand Wars on our journey through the North Island, and I will look to post some other interesting aspects of our journey in the next.

More anon 

JJ