Girls’ War

The Girls’ War is the name given to fighting on the beach at Russell, New Zealand, then known as Kororāreka in March, 1830 between the northern and southern hapū (subtribe) within the Ngāpuhi iwi (tribe).

Henry Williams, William Williams and other missionaries came over the bay from Paihia to attempt to mediate an end to the fighting. The mediation efforts appeared promising with the missionaries believing that the chiefs would accept that the plunder of the kūmara gardens at Korarareka would suffice as satisfaction of the earlier insults. However, during the morning of 6 March, a musket was fired by accident, wounding a woman in Ururoa’s party. A battle commenced which Hengi, a chief of Whangaroa, attempted to stop; however he was shot and killed, his death having consequences in the months and years ahead. About 1,400 warriors were involved in the battle, with about 100 being killed.

Eventually Henry Williams persuaded the warriors to stop the fighting. Reverend Samuel Marsden had arrived on a visit and over the following weeks he and Henry Williams attempted to negotiate a settlement in which Kororāreka would be ceded by Pōmare II as compensation for Hengi's death, which was accepted by those engaged in the fighting. However, the duty of seeking revenge had passed to Mango and Kakaha, the sons of Hengi; they took the view that the death of their father should be acknowledged through a muru, or war expedition, against tribes to the south. It was within Māori traditions to conduct a muru against tribes who had no involvement in the events that caused the death of an important chief.

Mango and Kakaha did not commence the muru until January 1832. Henry Willams accompanied the first expedition, without necessarily believing that he could end the fighting, but with the intention of continuing to persuade the combatants as to Christian teaching of peace and goodwill. The journal of Henry Williams provides an extensive account of this expedition, which can be described as an incident in the so-called Musket Wars. In this expedition Mango and Kakaha were successful in fights on the Mercury Islands and Tauranga, with the muru continuing until late July 1832.

...
Wikipedia