The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 14, Issue 3 (June 1, 1939)
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How many motorists who travel the road between Ohaeawai and Kaikohe, Bay of Islands, take notice of a little church standing on a slight eminence and surrounded by a stone wall; a lone building without access, save through the paddocks amongst which it stands. On 1st July every year there is surely some stirring amid the grass; bugle calls, however faint; an echo from the hills of Maori warrior cries; a smell of powder in the air. For around the spot marked by the little church many gallant men advanced to certain death in an assault on the native defenders of their land, impregnably entrenched behind three circles of stockades. As late as 1914 a number of cannon balls and a broken cannon could be seen lying there to remind one of
“Old, far-off forgotten things,
And battles long ago.”
On the hill to the right of the church Colonel Despard assembled his forces; units of the Navy and Army, and volunteers from Auckland. On rising ground to the left camped friendly Maoris. That was in the year 1845 and our artillery was such that at two hundred yards the cannon balls were no more effective against the puriri stockade than would have been so many tennis balls. As was natural the defenders were incensed by their renegade brothers and made a sortie against them, capturing a British ensign which they hoisted above their stockade, upside down above an emblem of their own.
Forty British dead marked that assault, brief as it was. Lieutenant Phillpotts from H.M.S. Hazard, stripped himself of his uniform before going into action, and courting death deliberately, he fell—whether as a protest or for another motive we do not know.
The descendants of the Maori braves erected the pretty church we now see. They also removed the remains of the British fallen from a nearby field and erected above them a memorial cross.
As an inexpensive contribution to our Centennial celebrations and for the purpose of cultivating our historical sense, a descriptive tablet by the roadside, stating some particulars of the action known as the Battle of Ohaeawai would draw the attention of many a chance traveller. To some, perhaps, indifference; to some it might be, in this queer age, a slight irritation of the existence, even, of the past; and to others a deep pondering on the bravery, the nobility and the ultimate significance of human life.