1863: Just Chillin’ on the Waikato Frontier
June 7, 2020
By AHNZ
This scene (left) from the Waikato Wars shows Lt. Henry Bates and his Maori wife, Haana. Behind them is another officer, Urquhart, who we have to thank for saving photos like this in his collection. On the right is the photographer himself, Dr William Temple, whose day job was surgeon and who would soon win the Victoria Cross¹.
The woman in the center is Haana (or ‘Ann,’) Bates’ wife (m.1856,) and he was her second husband- the previous spouse having a similar profession. Bates had a high-powered job working closely with Governor Grey and General Cameron. Later he became a Justice of the Peace. Haana was “a great favourite of the Wellington colonists and once painted by Lindauer.” Their son, Taori ‘Charlie’ Waitara¹½, helped finance Te Whiti of the Parihaka Cult².
Chillin’ on the Waikato Frontier
The times of action and battle were still ahead for these men in early 1863. Mr and Mrs Bates would have serious work ahead with heavy responsibility with army command. Doctor Temple would put his photography hobby away as saving lives and ducking bullets- for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross at Rangiriri later that year. For now, they could relax a bit together in the dull days before the Waikato War got hot.
In this photo (right) we see Bates and Urquhart in the same scene with 2 different men. What’s interesting and unusual here is that there seems to be at least one smile! Western history, including New Zealand, can be divided up between Pre-Smile and Post-Smile eras. It’s perfectly natural for Mrs Bates and her friends to not be looking chipper in their photo; That’s how you know they’re not crazy but are good and decent people. Besides, Haana has been talked in to wearing a contrived Plastic Maori getup for the picture rather than her normal clothing; That might be annoying her. Conspicuous smiling did not start to happen until about 1870 so Lt. Bates seems to have picked up a futuristic innovation from his Maori friends in the above picture!
“…the Regiment’s surgeon sometimes found himself with little to do. Perhaps noticing William Temple’s langour, a friend he had made after his arrival in Auckland apparently gave him some photographic equipment, and encouraged him to take up the hobby….During 1862 and the first months of 1863 Temple recorded the slow progress of the Great South Road, through swamps and over thickly bushed hills, in a series of photos. As the road moved away from Auckland, soldiers were stationed in forts built by its side; civilians followed the soldiers, establishing farmlets, stores and pubs.” – Going to war with William Temple; Reading the Maps
Temple could improve his photos, Urquhart could scrapbook them. Mrs Bates could build her household and make strong social bonds, as women do. Mr Bates could paint his water colours and perfect his Maori language skills and ties for the coming days when they would be depended upon. The months before the war when the Great South Road was being built were times to chill out on the Waikato Frontier when things were more boring than serious.
Waikato War Gets Hot
Those carefree days would not last…
“Waikato Maori had been escalating a war-footing. Ngapora warned Governor Grey that war parties were gathering to attack outposts toward making a surprise attack on Auckland. Governor Grey resolved to get in first and unleash the dogs of war on his upstart competition. Ngapora’s defection paved the way. Auckland had lost her moral and military front line of the past decade to the enemy. If he would not hold his station, would not stand up for his King and Country any longer, then what now held war at bay?”
“Grey gave Ngapora and his people one more chance to pick a side and keep the land given to them by the British Crown: The Oath of Allegiance….”- 1863: Oath of Betrayal
So, our photo belongs to the lead-up to the outbreak of war. The quiet time before July 9th’s Oath of Allegiance.
“Black Lives Matter”
The feature image (top) is like some kind of Rorschach Test. With a little priming³, the viewers of June 2020 became hysterical (go see for yourself) that this was some kind of horrible exploitation by misogynistic white men against a captive black girl. While ‘Black Lives Matter’ riots and protests occur this week it goes to show that the cultural schism trembling through our society is all pervasive!
“Nelson crowd shows solidarity with Black Lives Matter movement“- Stuff, 6 June, 2020
They think they’re seeing history but really are seeing their own preconceived core beliefs and fears. These are louder than the facts at hand….
“The photo almost looks kind of sleazy.”
“Doesn’t look right she’s only a girl with three men..”
“They look like European paedophiles in the Philippines…”
“This photo is awful, says so much about how Europeans treated Maori at the time.”
“It’s a horrible photo. I wonder what became of her, and what they did to her. ”
“She looks so young and not that happy hope she was not being abused”
“there is surely no doubt what has occurred prior to this photo and most likely after, the tomahawk again no doubt to cause fear and submission, not a proud history at all new zealand..”
“Raped”
“Wow these white men had other things in mind”
“She probably was slave”
“Must of got raped poor wahine”
There’s no evil in the photo, the viewers bring that with them and it didn’t take much priming for the hysteria to break out.
This must be how street riots start too. Outbreaks of hysteria happen according to the Moral Cultures clock, they happen because tension and potential energy have reached the the point where they must manifest. It’s like a person with pent-up anger who has been holding it in until they stub their toe and unleash a great raging yell! The explosion seems out of all proportion to the little shock on the toe because it is. That was just the triggering event. Likewise, the death of George Floyd in America simply provides a pretence for the release of hysterical energy that has cause elsewhere. This photo, being viewed at the same time period, now, June 2020, is being pressed into the same role.
—
1 Ref. William Temple (VC); Wiki
1½ Charles Waitara (d. 1910) was the money man for Parihaka and took over as the big man after Te Whiti. He was not Bates’ biological son but Hana’s second boy. He was about 9 when his parents faught the Waikato War in these images. When he died, he left significant portions of his welth to his half-brother, Henry Bates; Ref. National Library & Ref. Dominion; Papers Past
The couple’s biological son, Henry Bates (aka Rawiri Bates) went on to be captured as a boy by the Hauhau before being rescued with some help from his father’s friend- Gov. George Grey. He was employed on the losing side in the Battle of Moutoa to try to ward off bullets using magic chants; Ref. Horowhenua Chronicle; Papers Past
2 Ref. Platts (1979); Christchurch City Libraries
3 The 2012 text from this Reading the Maps post fell on hysterical ground on the NZH&H facebook page from where the quoted comments have been copied
Note: Bates appointed Interpreter to the Forces, Otahuhu; New Zealander; Papers Past
Note: Bates appointed a JP, Feb 1863; Daily Southern Cross; Papers Past
Image ref. Howick Historical Villiage’s soldiers; fencible.org.nz
Image ref. Mr & Mrs Bates (Hana Waitara AKA Hanna Tama) and friends; Temple; Alexander Turnbull Library
Image ref. Bates and 3 others; Temple; Alexander Turnbull Library
Image ref. Bates hanging with the natives; Temple; Alexander Turnbull Library
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