Land Disputes Bring Conflict to Boulcott's Farm in Lower Hutt

Sep 27, 2011
Brian Cross

Memorial to the Battle at Boulcott's Farm - Photo by Brian Cross

With the NZ Company selling land that many Maori still considered theirs, eventually there would be violent conflict in the Wellington region.

When Ngati Toa leaders Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata returned to the North Island after the events of 1843 on the Wairau, their people became increasingly embroiled in the emerging Hutt Valley land disputes. This was the territory of Te Atiawa, whose people were living in relative peace alongside the early colonists.

In stark contrast to their neighbouring tribes, Te Atiawa were willing to sell some of their land to the New Zealand Company for further settlement. With Te Rauparaha incarcerated on the instructions of Governor George Grey, his nephew worked to incite opposition to settlement of Hutt Valley. As far as Te Rangihaeata was concerned, Te Atiawa were there under Ngati Toa patronage, and the land was not theirs to sell.

Colonial Expansion into the Hutt Valley

By the mid 1840's the original settlement at Britannia, Pito-one to the Maori - today’s Petone, had been replaced as the centre of commerce and settlement by Wellington on the other side of Port Nicholson. The flood-prone lands along the valley of the meandering Hutt River were largely untamed, but demand for food was growing, and a small number of colonists had begun breaking in the fertile river flats for farming. One of these was Mr Boulcott, whose land lay alongside the river just to the north of today’s Lower Hutt town centre. Ngati Toa warriors were periodically crossing the western hills to harass the settlers, and so the 58th British Regiment had 50 soldiers stationed at this frontier position.

The Hutt Valley’s main military post was at Fort Richmond, an elaborate structure built along the lines of forts used to protect the pioneer settlors of North America against the natives there. Fort Richmond stood at the southern end of what is now Lower Hutt’s busy High Street. With the redcoats camped at Boulcott’s farm some four kilometres away and demands being placed on the army in Wellington too, Fort Richmond was manned primarily by a local militia.

Attack on Boulcott's Farm

On 16 May 1846, with an early morning mist shrouding the valley and hiding them from view, the warriors of a Ngati Toa raiding party came out of the hills where the Belmont Stream joins the Hutt River. Armed with tomahawks, patu, taiaha and muskets, they crossed the river and approached Boulcott’s farm using cut scrub as camouflage. To these Maori, the time had come for utu. Their people had lost tribal land and their mana had suffered as a result. Retaliation was the honourable way of dealing with the matter at hand, and they were experts in guerrilla-type warfare.

The raid was not unexpected. Leading Te Atiawa had warned the British that an attack was imminent, while a few days earlier a large fire had been lit on Tinakori Hill above Wellington. It was a diversion, bringing soldiers into town and depleting the forces stationed in the Hutt.

After the sentry posted on the riverbank was overcome by stealth, one group of attackers opened fire on the defence picket, while another came in from the side brandishing their tomahawks and traditional weapons. As the main body of the camp awoke to the mayhem, the soldiers found themselves surrounded by some 200 warriors, and fierce fighting followed. While the Maori had taken the advantage of surprise, the well organised and disciplined British force, reinforced by the militia from Fort Richmond, succeeded in stoutly defending its position. The redcoats eventually drove the Maoris back into the hills.

Six British soldiers were killed during the battle at Boulcott’s farm, and two more later died of their injuries. Maori losses were unknown. The raiding partly took their dead and wounded with them as they retreated, performing the haka and taunting their pursuers until they melted into the bush.

Wellington Remains on Alert

An effect of the attack on Boulcott’s farm was increased militarisation in the Wellington region. Until now the British had been reluctant to accept offers of armed support from Te Atiawa. Now the friendly Maori were issued with arms, albeit substandard ones. The militia was expanded, both in the town of Wellington itself and out in the Hutt Valley. Boulcott’s farm continued as the site of an advance military post, while a second at Taita was also strengthened.

Skirmishes continued for some time to come, but steadily the Hutt Valley became established as an important source of food and animal products. Wellington would grow in size and importance to become New Zealand’s capital within twenty years of the frontier battle of Boulcott’s farm.

Today Boulcott’s Farm Heritage Golf Club occupies the land on which Mr Boulcott settled and where in 1846 the warriors of Ngati Toa and its allies attacked a contingent of British soldiers. A stopbank controls the once unpredictable river, and 140,000 people now call the Hutt Valley home.