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Overview
Horatio Gordon Robley (1840-1930) arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand on the 8th of January, 1864, as part of the 68th regiment of the British Army, sent as reinforcements for the Crown in the New Zealand Wars. Three months after landing in Auckland, the 68th was dispatched to Tauranga, where they were involved in the Battle of Gate Pā on April 29th. Following the battle, Robley remained stationed in the Bay of Plenty on garrison duty for almost two years. During this time he continued to produce a vast array of watercolours and sketches. The bulk of these works were related to Māori, a subject particularly favoured by Robley and revisited by him many times after his return to the United Kingdom on the 28th of June, 1866. For this reason it can be difficult to determine with certainty whether many of Robley’s works were executed in New Zealand, or abroad, despite their importance to New Zealand history.
This watercolour, however, was likely made during or soon after the proceedings of July 25th, 1864, at the British military camp at Te Papa. It pictures the second of two group surrenders by Ngāi te Rangi forces after the battle of Te Ranga, which had taken place on the 21st of June. The battle claimed upwards of one hundred lives, perhaps many more, and resulted in the negotiations for peace depicted here.
Robley uses rapid, limited strokes, creating a sense of immediacy but also personality in this painting. The three men at the front of the group are facing the artist, as if watching him work. The man third from the left has been identified as Penetaka Tuaia, (Ngati Ranginui, Pirirākau) the ingenious ‘engineer of the main works’ of the labyrinthine Gate Pā. Another identifiable figure is Hori Ngatai, a Ngāi te Rangi orator, who stands in the middle of the seated group. He was a spokesman for Ngāi te Rangi on the surrender of July 25th, hence his central, standing position.
This work was likely sent by Robley to England, where it was reproduced as an engraving in the July-December edition of the Illustrated London News in 1864 . The creases visible on the left and bottom thirds of the work— as well has his scribbled instruction to “compress this sketch but do not reduce the size of the figures”— indicate that this work may have been the version dispatched to the newspaper.
The final newspaper engraving (see link below) idealises Robley’s original watercolour: the Union Jack is enlarged and centralised, and the central figures no longer look at the artist, but down and away. These differences highlight an eagerness to sanitise the war, but they also make obvious Robley’s intent to represent the truth. It is true that details tend to change between Robley’s various versions of the scene, but they are truthful in another sense: they combine actualities and elements which may not have happened concurrently (Hori’s address and the laying down of arms) in order to form a holistic picture of a specific moment. They have not been dramatised for artistic impact, nor do they seem political, or triumphant, as do their Illustrated London News counterparts. The watercolours are interested and empathetic, focussed on recalling aspects both narrative and emotional of the actual events depicted.
Sources:
Image of the Illustrated London News engraving:
“The War in New Zealand.” The Illustrated London News, Vol 45, July-Dec 1864, 429.
Melvin, L.W. Soldier Artist in the Bay of Plenty, 1864-1866. Ed. R.W. Melvin. Tauranga: Tauranga Historical Society, 1990, pp 32.
H.G Robley, Surrender of the Ngaiterangi after Te Ranga. 1864. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington.
Text by Florence Esson, Te Papa intern, June 2018.