Kowhai Ngutu Kaka

Ngā Puhi, Arawa, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngā Rauru, Waikato

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    Non-fiction

  • A Māori History Being A Native Account of the Pakeha-Māori Wars in New Zealand. Trans. Lieutenant-Colonel [Thomas] McDonnell. Auckland, N.Z.: H. Brett, 1887. Rpt. in The Defenders of New Zealand: Being A Short Biography of Colonists Who Distinguished Themselves In Upholding Her Majesty’s Supremacy In These Lands. Thos. Wayth Gudgeon. Auckland, N.Z.: H. Brett, 1887. 483-556.
  • A book of thirteen chapters with an introduction by Thomas McDonnell who states: ‘I have endeavoured to give a brief Māori account of the early colonisation of New Zealand... [and] the native wars.... which I gathered from a Māori chief who was an eye-witness of many of the events recorded, and has learned from others on good authority.’ In the opening chapter Kaka writes of his whakapapa and asserts that ‘it has long been my wish to seek out a good European, if I can find one, who understands our ways, and get him to put into your language what I tell him in mine’. He notes that the ‘majority of the writers have lied and cheated’ in their discussions of the history of the land wars. In the following chapters Kaka speaks of the coming of the missionaries and how at times there were cultural misunderstandings and confusion when the Biblical law espoused by the missionaries conflicted with Māori law. He describes the traditional food crops of the Māori, the traditional games played and the early contact and intermarriage between Pakeha and Māori. In the following chapters Kaka speaks of the impact of muskets and the Treaty of Waitangi which he felt was ‘all great rubbish and nonsense’. He then begins lengthy descriptions of key battles such as those between Ngapuhi and government troops at Okaihau, Ohaeawai and Ruapekapeka Pas. He discusses the Kingite movement and their battles in Taranaki and Waikato and gives an account of the Hauhau religion and the various battles by Hauhau troops in the Wanganui region. The rest of the books describes other skirmishes with the government troops including the fighting at Gate Pa and the capture of Wereroa Pa.

    • Other

  • "A Later Version of the Coming of Europeans." Trans. T. McDonnell. Māori History: A Native Account of the Pakeha-Māori Wars in New Zealand. Auckland, N.Z.: H. Brett, 1887. Rpt in The Defenders of New Zealand: Being A Short Biography of Colonists Who Distinguished Themselves In Upholding Her Majesty’s Supremacy In These Lands. Thos. Wayth Gudgeon. Auckland, N.Z.: H. Brett, 1887. 498-501. Rpt. in Māori Is My Name: Historical Māori Writings in Translation. Ed. John Caselberg. Dunedin, N.Z.: John McIndoe, 1975. 30-32.
  • Kaka speaks of seeing Captain Cook and his sailors. He recounts a story of how his great-grandfather Kahu was chastised by a missionary for fishing on the Sabbath and told that he would burn in hell for this. Kaka shares how this deeply offended Kahu’s people because it was perceived to be a curse placed on a chief of great mana. Appropriate action was needed to negate the disgrace of this curse.
  • "From Kowhai Ngutu Kaka’s ‘Māori History’." Trans. T. McDonnell. Māori History: A Native Account of the Pakeha-Māori Wars in New Zealand. Auckland, N.Z.: H. Brett, 1887. Rpt in The Defenders of New Zealand: Being A Short Biography of Colonists Who Distinguished Themselves In Upholding Her Majesty’s Supremacy In These Lands. Thos. Wayth Gudgeon. Auckland, N.Z.: H. Brett, 1887. 556. Rpt. in Māori Is My Name: Historical Māori Writings in Translation. Ed. John Caselberg. Dunedin, N.Z.: John McIndoe, 1975. 146-147.
  • Kaka asserts that he has written the Māori account of New Zealand’s history. While the Pakeha account has been written many times, Kaka has written the Māori side only once.