Here at Te Awaroa Museum in Helensville our staff are looking forward to commemorating the Battle of Te Ika-a-Ranganui. This watershed event occurred in 1825, and there will be a range of commemorative events across the Kaipara, including at the Museum, to mark 200 years since this battle took place near Kaiwaka.
The Battle of Te Ika-a-Ranganui was an important conflict for shaping the Kaipara, as approximately 500 heavily-armed Ngapuhi defeated warriors from the confederation of Ngati Whatua tribes. Although the battle was hard-fought, and hard won by Ngapuhi, it has gone down as one of the fiercest battles of the Musket Wars. Ngapuhi forces broke into smaller taua (war parties) and pursued surviving Ngati Whatua far and wide, including into the South Kaipara.
It was after this that all but a handful of Ngati Whatua men left Kaipara and withdrew to Waikato for some years. While all the land on the Kaipara river was uninhabited there is evidence that Paikea Te Hekeua of Oruawharo visited this area at intervals and thus kept the claim of Ngati Whatua possession alive.
