The Tauranga campaign had started as a…

The Tauranga campaign had started as a side show to the Invasion of Waikato, where British Imperial Troops, on behalf of the New Zealand Colonial Government, are fighting a confederation of Māori tribes known as the King Movement.

The Kingites are receiving assistance, both materials and recruits, from many of the tribes in the North Island.

In an effort to curb this flow of support, the British have sent an expedition to Tauranga, a major harbor in the Bay of Plenty, some one hundred kilometers east of the conflict in the Waikato.

Their intention had merely been to establish a base and adopt a defensive posture.

However the local Māori, Ngai Te Rangi, cannot afford to assume that this would always be the case.

They respond with threats, insults, abuse, and a program of increasing provocation, then had begun raiding the British camp.

Finally they build a strong Pā, a fortress or defensive position, only five kilometers from the British camp.

The British commander, Colonel Greer, cannot ignore this.

Not only does it restrict his freedom of movement but it also limits his control of Tauranga Harbour.

He applies to Auckland for reinforcements so he can go on the offensive.

His request arrives in Auckland just as the active conflict in Waikato ends.

The British commander, General Duncan Cameron, had just returned to Auckland where he had been experiencing a lot of criticism from the press and the Colonial government, who see the Waikato Campaign as a failure.

True, they had conquered and annexed a lot of territory but this had always been only the unspoken objective.

The ostensible reason for invading the Waikato had been decisively to beat the Māori in battle and draw an end to the King Movement.

It is reasonable to assume that Cameron sees Tauranga as a chance to achieve a decisive victory.

Whatever the reasons, he immediately sails for Tauranga with his entire reserve, bringing the garrison up to seventeen hundred men.

Meanwhile, fighting had already broken out nearby.

A large contingent of East Coast Māori, possibly as many as seven hundred warriors, are making their way towards the conflict at Waikato.

Their route takes them through the territory of another tribe that sees themselves as allies of the Pākehā, the Arawa tribe based around Rotorua.

Forewarned of this, the Arawa chiefs call back their tribesmen, many of whom are working in Auckland or further north.

Pausing only in Tauranga to borrow guns from the British, they hasten onward to Rotorua.

Four hundred warriors of the tribe are mobilized and they meet and hold the East Coast Māori on April 7 in a two day battle on the shores of Lake Rotoiti.