Battle of Hingakaka

Date	1791
Location	Near Ohaupo
Result	Tainui victory

Belligerents

Allied southern North Island army

Tainui

Commanders and leaders

Te Rauananganga, Huahua, Tiripa,

Pikauterangi

The Battle of Hingakaka (sometimes Hiringakaka) was fought between two Maori armies, an allied southern North Island army and a Tainui alliance army, near Ohaupo in the Waikato in the late 18th or early 19th centuries, and was reputedly "the largest battle ever fought on New Zealand soil".

Early New Zealand historian Percy Smith placed the battle at about 1780, basing the date purely on tribal genealogies, but evidence from Maori oral histories from warriors who fought in the battle and were still alive well into European times suggests that 1780 is far too early. The Ngati Whatua chief Te Murupaenga, who led his warriors into action in the battle, was judged by Samuel Marsden to be about 50 when he saw him in 1820. A date of 1780 would make him about 10 - far too young. Other Ngati Whatua sources correlated the date as two years before the attack on the Boyd, making the date 1807. However, according to Mana whenua traditions based on accounts from Ngati Maniapoto, Ngati Te Kanawa and Ngati Paretekawa traditional sources, they place the battle in or around the 1790-91 period.

The battle was fought between groups comprising many smaller allied hapu and iwi. The attackers, a force of 7,000 to 10,000 warriors, led by a Ngāti Toa chief Pikauterangi, from the Marokopa district of the lower North Island, invaded the Waipa District, to restore honour. He was aggrieved over the poor distribution of the kahawai fish harvest, according to Pei Te Hurinui Jones. This led to the killing of all members of the Ngati Apakura, who were one of the hapu hosting the fish feast. Other accounts say that Pikauterangi took the biggest fish for himself and he was seized and ducked to the point where he nearly drowned. In vengeance he killed Ngati Apakura, cooked their bodies and distributed them for eating amongst Ngati Kauwhata and Ngati Raukawa.

This take, or cause, happened about three years before the battle. During this time Pikauterangi travelled around the lower North Island collecting a large force. He raised about 4,000 men from the Wellington region and a further 3,000 from the East Coast tribes of Ngati Porou and Ngati Kahungunu. This was combined with a separate force of Te Ati Awa, Ngati Ruanui and tribes from the Whanganui who had already been in battle with Ngati Maniapoto.

...
Wikipedia