1806: Te Pahi’s Medal
March 16, 2021
By AHNZ
Back in January 1806 New South Wales was, at this time, a gulag colony comprised of transported prisoners fringed by an enforcing population of military, some administrators, and a few adventurers. Governor King, soon to be replaced by the infamous Captain Bligh, had a tough job keeping the rebellious prisoners as well as his corrupt jailing staff from flying apart.
The New Zealand Maori Chief, Te Pahi, was being schmoozed by the ‘Prison Planet’ Governor and his Magistrate, Samuel Marsden, because they wanted an inside man in New Zealand. The next choice would be Chief Ruatara, successor to Chief Te Pahi, and this would be a success to make up for the failure at making friends with Te Pahi which went horribly wrong.
“Presented by Governor King to Tippahee a Chief of New Zealand during his visit at Sydney, SS Wales, January 1806”- inscription on Te Pahi’s medal
Disaster struck Te Pahi and his Bay of Islands Ngapuhi people on 26 March, 1810, when their island settlement was attacked by a war party of angry whalers and looted. It was a retaliatory attack upon Te Pahi’s people who were blamed for the Boyd Massacre. Te Pahi himself was wounded and his friendship medal stripped from him.
“…whalers massacred a Maori chief and his villiagers in the Bay of Islands and, it is believed, stole a medal…” – Three News
The Auckland Museum video and the Three News clip leave out some very important context. It’s as if Te Pahi was randomly set upon by whalers because…white men bad. Actually, the Avengers had the wrong man because they had been played by some of Te Pahi’s enemies.
A rival tribe (Whangaroa Maori) had played Te Pahi and his people, making them out to be responsible for their famous massacre and burning of The Boyd.
I wonder if their descendants turned up for the ceremony in this film and if they felt inter-generational guilt?ยน Perhaps they think their warrior ancestors were cunning strategists for getting one over on Te Pahi?
When the ‘Boyd Avengers’ mistook Te Pahi and his people for traitors (26 March, 1810) many Maoris were killed, the gifts taken back along with, it seems, the medal. The Chief himself set out to clean house, making war on the conniving Whangaroa Maori who had duped the Westerners to misdirect their revenge. In this conflict, Te Pahi was killed only weeks later.
Not until September do the people of Sydney realise what a trick has been played. Te Pahi is fully exonerated, he had been a friend all along. He had even been responsible for rescuing and protecting survivors who were able to return to Sydney! Marsden and his Church Missionary Society make it up to Te Pahi’s suffering people, they become the great recipients of Western agriculture and technology along with the benefits of Christianity. They become Ground Zero for the new evolution of peaceful cooperation between two peoples.
Yet, State history makes the it seem as if Anglo Saxons were the bad guys of the story while letting the Whangaroa Maori instigators go unmentioned and totally off the hook for their malicious and deadly deceptions.
“Here is a tiny object..about the recognition of Maori sovereignty by the British crown pre-treaty. So it has a constitutional importance.”- Professor Deidre Brown, University of Auckland.
Anybody know what Brown means by that? If the Governor gives you an engraved keyring that comes with Crown recognition that you’re a fellow Royal!?
This medal certainly is very important but, as usual, not for the silly reasons given by Statist Historians.
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1 Inter-generational feelings like trauma and guilt often feature in Treaty grievance narratives but…only when it’s convenient.
Image ref. Te Pahi’s medal, Lois Williams, RNZ
Image ref. Gov. King
Image ref. Deidre Brown, profile photo, Facebook
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