The arrival of pakeha industrial era technology .. edged weapons and guns, did not cause or start tribal warfare in New Zealand. The warriors had long crafted weapons from bone, stone and wood, training with them from boyhood, to become fearful combatives.
- The Paintbrush does not create the Masterpiece .. and guns do not cause violence.
- Certainly Maori soon learned to use 'western technology' - persuading the captains of sailing ships to carry war parties on coastal raids and seeking muskets and cannon of their own as soon as they could barter services & sell stuff to greedy sailors.
"You want dried tattooed heads captain - sure. - You like my sister huh?"
The 'Musket Wars' from around 1818-1845 have also been called "potato wars" - as the locals were quick to adopt the latest economic trends to attack and dominate their neighbours .. enslaving survivors to work new fields, growing potato crops to trade for muskets and powder, using those muskets to attack the neighbours, and do it all again, enlarging the circle into a Growth Industry.
The nine separate signed copies of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi didn't do anything much to stop the warfare.
Early New Zealand Entrepreneur
Flintlock Musket by Ketland .."taken in Kawittis Pa, Ruapekapeka 1846"
Presented to Hongi Hika by King George IV in 1820
- a Flintlock Musket converted later to Percussion.
Maori Wars, Musket Wars, Land Wars .. Maori were warriors and fought intertribally long before the whalers and sealers turned-up - then the incoming white settlers were land hungry - and traded, scammed, or just stole by force the best land they could find. - Both sides of this inevitable conflict naturally used the most effective weaponry they could obtain.
Some folk will call any old gun a "Flintlock"
I want to bring COCK into the conversation ..
RING Neck or Double Throated Cock
SWAN or GOOSE Neck Cock
The elegant swanneck flint cocks sometimes broke and rendered the gun USELESS - so it might well be restored by fitting a stronger 'ringneck' cock - only later to once again, be upgraded by conversion to Percussion lock and a hammer. - Money was tight - so make do and mend was the way.
In 1852, 500 flintlock muskets were shipped back to England for replacement with 500 Percussion models.
In time, Maori grew to favor the Double Barreled shotgun TUPARA and the hatchet as personal weapons
- Around 1860's Breech loading Carbines updated the NZ Forces equipment ..
Calisher & Terry Carbine
And Adams revolvers began to be imported and issued:
Here's a great site for historic smallarms record ..
Original Antique Colts are around New Zealand.
I'm definately no "expert" on any of this - but I'd reckon many of the antiques I currently have were brought into New Zealand by gold miners and 'adventurers' from California and Australia looking to join the Gold Rushes in the 1850's and 60's. - There are still to this day, large gold mines in operation at Waihi on the Coromandel Peninsula and Macraes Flat in Otago.
I truly understand that the exemplary pre-European Maori were corrupted and victimised by white Colonialism.
Back then - Capitalism and Christianity were well practiced in the arts of civilizing and exploiting the 'poorly educated' of the day.
Marty K.
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