The Action At Boulcott's Farm - 1st Maori War
By Chris Ferree
About 20 miles up the Hutt River Valley from Wellington was
Boulcott's Farm. At
the time of the First Maori War, the farm was on the
frontier of European
expansion into New Zealand. The farm Itself was located on
the east bank of the
Hutt river in a small glade. In addition the Boulcott's
cottage, there was a
large barn and a couple of small outbuildings.
Due to Maori activity in the valley, it was decided that
the farm should be
converted into a fortified outpost. This job fell to Lt.
Page and the 48 men of
his company of 58th foot. Upon their arrival, the men of
the 58th went about
making the farm defensible. The barn was converted into a
barracks / storehouse
with a stockade added. Lt. Page used the cottage as his
headquarters. A few of
the men were billeted in the outbuildings. Finally, a
guard tent was erected by
the river.
On the morning of May 16, 1846, most of the men were in
their sleeping
quarters. In the sentries tent, there were 3 men and the
drummer. Outside the
tent a lone sentry stood watch. As the sun began to shine
down into the valley,
the guard noticed something peculiar in the bushes on the
far side of the river.
As the sentry moved in for a closer look, about 250
warriors from Te
Rangihaeata's Pa came rushing forward. The guard took his
shot and then was
overrun trying to reload. Upon hearing the shot, the
others in the tent began
to stumble out, led by the drummer William Allen. Seeing
that the enemy was
nearly upon them, drummer Allen began to sound the alarm
with his bugle. As the
first notes rang out, the boy was attacked and the Maori
tomahawk nearly took
his right arm off. Undaunted, the brave lad retrieved the
bugle with his left
hand and again attempted to sound the alarm. This brought
on a fresh assualt
and the boy succumbed to the Maori axe.
The clamor at the guard tent was enough to get the
attention of the men in
the barn and they came spilling out in time to see the
Maori's pepper the tent
with gunfire. It was at this time the Lt. Page became
aware of the attack.The
Lieutenent and his two men attempted to move to the
stockade, but were forced
back into the cottage by oncoming Maoris. A womwn staying
in one of the other
buildings was able to dash to the stockade and did good
service handing out
cartridges to the men.
Inside the stockade, the men kept up a galling fire from
the loopholes then
retiring to the barn to reload in cover. While the men kept
the Maoris occupied,
Lt. Page was able to coordinate a rush from the outbuilding
to the stockade.
Now that the company was assembled in the stockade the
Maori fell back to the
woods.
For an hour and a half the 58th traded shots with the
Maori. As the
firefight continued, Page's ammunition supply dwindling
rapidly. He knew that
if he ran out of bullets before the Maoris retired he was
done for. It was a do
or die situation.
With one section laying down covering fire, Lt. Page and
the 58th bursted out
of the stockade with fixed bayonets. They quickly advanced
on the Maori's
positions in skirmish order. As the men of Page's company
pressed their attack,
the sound of thundering hooves came ringing up the valley.
The Hutt Militia
charged to the rescue. the Maori fell back across the
river and after a few
parting shots, melted away into the jungle. And for the
moment peace was
restored to the Hutt Valley.
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