Völkner incident: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|1865 killing of a missionary in colonial New Zealand by the MaoriMāori}}

The '''Völkner incident''' describes the murderexecution of the German-born [[Protestant]] missionary [[Carl Sylvius Völkner]] in [[New Zealand]] in 1865 andby an independent Māori judiciary, consisting of members of the consequent[[Pai Mārire]] faith. It has come to be seen by historians as a major and consequential [[miscarriage of justice]] by the [[Government of New Zealand]] during the [[New Zealand Wars]]. The event led to the arrest and execution of several major chieftains, and the confiscation of 85,000 acres of Māori land.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The death of Carl Völkner |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/te-akomanga/the-classroom/historic-events-activities/the-death-of-volkner-classroom-activities |access-date=2023-08-28 |website=nzhistory.govt.nz |language=en}}</ref>

==Völkner's murdertrial and execution==

Among the Māori community, Völkner was rumoured to be a government spy. It was thought he sent Governor George Grey a plan of a pa near Te Awamutu where British troops burned women and children alive in a whare that had been converted to a church. The wife and two daughters of Kereopa were among the victims. Pai Mārire (or Hauhau) arrived in the [[Ōpōtiki]] area of the [[Bay of Plenty]] in February 1865. On 2 March Protestant missionary Carl Völkner discovered that his Māori congregation had moved on from [[Christianity]] to Pai Mārire (or Hauhau). Like many Europeans in isolated communities, Völkner had sent reports of anti-Government activity to the governor. Although warned to stay away from the town, on his next visit he was captured, put on trial and hanged from a tree, and his body was decapitated an hour later. [[Kereopa Te Rau]], a Hauhau, was alleged to have re-entered the church and conducted a service with Völkner's head in the pulpit beside him. He was also alleged to have plucked out the dead missionary's eyes and swallowed them.<ref name="Sept1865">{{cite web |title= The Church Missionary Gleaner, September 1865|work= Death of the Rev. C. S Volkner|accessdate=24 October 2015 |url= http://www.churchmissionarysociety.amdigital.co.uk/Documents/Images/CMS_OX_Gleaner_1865_09/2| publisher = [[Adam Matthew Digital]] |url-access=subscription }}</ref> One eye allegedly represented Parliament and the other the Queen and British law. News of the murder caused great alarm and anger among [[Pākehā]].

InGeorge Grey was enraged upon hearing of the execution. He proclaimed its perpetrators “fanatics” and in September 1865,1965 declared martial law in the Bay of Plenty, ordering Ōpōtiki locals to assist government forces or face land confiscation. <ref name="auto"/><ref name="auto1"/> Then forces then available to the New Zealand government, some 500 men, were transported by [[HMS Eclipse (1860)|''HMS Eclipse'']] from [[Wanganui]] through [[Cook Strait]], around the [[East Cape]] to Ōpōtiki. The composition of this force was significant. There were four companies of militia, a troop of cavalry and a contingent of [[Ngāti Hau]] warriors led by [[Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui]]. These were the units that had already been campaigning together during the Taranaki War and had a history of successful cooperation and mutual respect.

The landing at Ōpōtiki was accomplished with difficulty. One of the ships ran aground on a falling tide and came under fire from the shore. Eventually it had to be abandoned and the crew and militia waded ashore but it was another twenty-four hours before the other ships were able to land their men and supplies. Once Grey's men had made successful landfall at Ōpōtiki, they opened fire indiscriminately at the local inhabitants, forcing them to retreat into nearby forest. Rather than pursue them, the Crown troops looted the pā, before burning it to the ground.

ByAfter theMokomoko’s endexecution, of October the local tribe's position was desperate. Some twenty of its chiefs surrendered and were shipped to [[Auckland]] for trial. Five of them received the [[death penalty]] and were hanged the following year. Largelarge areas of land around Ōpōtiki were [[New Zealand land confiscations|confiscated]] under the ''New Zealand Settlements Act of 1863'' and sold to settlers.