Memorial Stones

Humble Heroes of the Faith

Missionary endeavour and the acceptance of the Gospel by Maori have been pretty much air brushed out of recent accounts of New Zealand history.  Secular humanism is a trick the living of our day are attempting to play upon the dead.  We Christians have a duty to ensure that the past is not lost.  To that end, Keith Newman's Bible and Treaty: Missionaries Among the Maori--A New Perspective [London: Penguin Books, 2010] is a much needed corrective to the current whitewashing. 

Contained in Newman's book is a gripping story of one Taumata-a-kura, an East Cape, Ngati Porou tribesman.  He had been taken as a slave during a raid by the northern Ngapuhi tribe, but in the early 1830's found his way to the mission school at Waimate, where he learned to read and write, and was instructed in the basic doctrines of the Gospel.  He eventually made his way back to his family and tribe.

One account describes the reunion of Taumata-a-kura with his people as "aioio ana te noho a te iwi" (black with people who hung onto his every word).  Ngati Porou believed he had been lost forever but now here he was, as if he had returned from the dead.  Rumours of his return, along with his message of an "atua hou" (a new god), had reached up into the Waiapu Valley before he even set foot in his homeland.  [Newman, p. 118.]

There was a great hunger and desire to hear what Taumata-a-kura had learnt about the new God.

The people heard this atua hou promised a new way of living, an ease of spirit for a battle-weary people.  He could transform them from "patu tangata" (people with warlike ways), to "manaaki tangata" (who care for and honour people).  If those stories were true, they'd be able to sleep at night.  His people wanted to hear more.  Taumata-a-kura preached on the river bank, and his words, "I heard the name of the new God; Jesus Christ is the new God . . . " reverberated the length of the valley from the mouth of the river to the foothills of Hikurangi, almost 12 miles away.  [Ibid.]

But he had returned right at the time when his tribe was mustering for war against a neighbouring tribe.  His tribal leaders were too focused upon the upcoming war, involving tens of thousands of warriors, and so he was sidelined.  But he was still regarded as a bit of a talisman, part of tribal mana, so the Ngati-Porou leaders thought it would be good to have his presence on the battlefield.  Taumata-a-kura agreed, but only if he could regulate and control the fighting.

Taumata-a-kura addressed the gathered troops, declaring that "the Whanau-a-Apanui had broken the laws of Jehovah."  He then gave his people new rules of war.

Cast aside . . . the Maori gods, that we may have one God for us . . . . If a man is killed as a result of your fire or your attack, neither cook nor eat him.  Take nothing from the corpse, whether it be a gun, a cartridge belt, clothing, a patu or anything else belonging to the dead person or from the battlefield: take nothing away but let them recover their dead, lest you be cursed by God.  Should you all conduct yourselves in this way perhaps the Lord God will be pleased.  This fight will be remembered as having begun the peace to end this long running war which began with our ancestors in times long past.  Should you ignore any of these rules you will be . . . cursed by God.

There was to be no cannibalism, no fighting on Sundays; there were to be prayers morning and night, care for the wounded, and no wanton destruction.  

With breathtaking courage and faith, Taumata-a-kura actually went into the battle.

It is said that Taumata-a-kura went into the heaviest fighting carrying his musket in one hand and his Bible in the other, and although the musket balls flew thickly around him, he was unscathed.  However, a number of key chiefs who disregarded his instructions, and many of those who had broken at least one of the rules, allegedly paid with their lives, which made the doubters think again.  Eyewitnesses passed down the story that the mana of his God was so great that Taumata-a-kura could even "ward off bullets by holding up printed texts from the Bible".

His display of faith during the six-month-long Toka-a-Kuku siege at Te Kaha was pivotal in the acceptance of Christianity by iwi and hapu as far south as the Wairarapa. . . . [Ibid., p. 119]

He continued to preach and teach amongst his people and was highly revered.  He opened up the way to further mission work amongst Maori on the East Cape and southward along the Wairarapa coast.

Such a wonderful history must be preserved and passed on to forthcoming generations at all costs.   Taumata-a-kura is an ancestor who has joined the great cloud of witnesses, whose testimony calls us from beyond the grave, urging us to run the race faithfully to the end, that we may take our place alongside him in the halls of Zion. 

They stand, those halls of Zion
All jubilant with song
And bright with many an angel
And all the martyr throng.
The Prince is ever in them,
The daylight is serene,
The pasture of the blessed
Are decked in glorious sheen

  Bernard of Cluny, 12th C