The ambush at Ōpepe

By mid-1869 Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Tūruki had been on the run for almost a year (see Te Kooti escapes from Rēkohu and The attack at Matawhero). After escaping the siege of Ngātapa in January, he found refuge in Te Urewera. Tūhoe formally committed themselves to him at Tāwhana, in the Waimana Valley, on 20 March 1869, and that autumn he raided Whakatāne and Mōhaka. In April government forces began a scorched-earth policy to destroy Tūhoe's ability to shelter him. In early June Te Kooti and about 200 followers left Tūhoe territory and crossed the Kāingaroa plains on their way towards the King Country. Ōpepe, south-east of Taupō, lay on the way. NZHistory describes it as a crossroads that existed before Pākehā arrived and a former Pai Mārire (Hauhau) village, deserted by 1869.

A detachment of the Bay of Plenty Cavalry had been sent from Fort Galatea, about 64 km away, as part of the pursuit. NZHistory's 'Roadside Stories' account says their Māori guide was believed to have secretly sympathised with Te Kooti's men and alerted them to where the troopers were. One soldier later recalled the guide lighting large fires at their first camp, which he believed were signals to Te Kooti's scouts. The troopers settled into the huts of the abandoned settlement at Ōpepe, where a stockade was to be built, and posted no lookouts. Before he left them, Colonel St John was asked whether the camp was safe and replied, as one survivor remembered it, that they were 'as safe there as we would be in London'.

On 7 June 1869 Te Kooti's advance guard surprised the camp. Most of the detachment were killed before they could reach their weapons: nine men died, and five of the fourteen escaped. One of them, George Crosswell, had been drying his rain-soaked uniform and made his way back to Fort Galatea naked, in midwinter. He was later awarded the New Zealand Medal. Te Kooti's men took the weapons and horses they badly needed. NZHistory calls the episode a military blunder that greatly enhanced Te Kooti's prestige. He moved on to the southern end of Lake Taupō, took the Ngāti Tūwharetoa leader Horonuku Te Heuheu Tūkino IV and some of his people as effective prisoners at Waihī, and reached Te Kūiti, the Māori King's base, on 10 July. His defeat at Te Pōrere followed in October.

The planned stockade at Ōpepe was built despite the ambush, and others followed along the Taupō–Napier road. Te Ara notes that an Armed Constabulary fort stood on the site for some years. Ōpepe is now a historic reserve with a remnant stand of native bush, on the Napier–Taupō road. A small cemetery there holds five graves: two contain the bodies of the nine members of the Bay of Plenty Cavalry killed in the attack, and three are of Pākehā settlers who died after the wars ended. The original tōtara headboards were repaired and renovated in 2010.