This image is of Hone Heke chopping down the British flag on Maiki hill above Kororareka(Russell) in 1845, this became the symbol of the Northern War.

Ngapuhi had many benefits from contact with Europeans. Leaders such as Tamati Waka Nene and Hone Heke were keen to keep this relationship. Both had gone to Christianity and supported the Treaty of Waitangi, Heke was the first to sign. Heke invited Lieutenant Governor Hobson to stay with him and be like a father.

The Treaty of Waitangi was expected to cement the relationship with the British Crown. Hobson’s decision to relocate the capital from Kororareka(Russell) to Auckland in 1841 was a serious shut down for Ngapuhi. This resulted in Hone Heke chopping down the British flag pole four times.

Lieutenant- Colonel William Hulme went after Hone Heke and Te Ruki Kawiti to kill them. After Hulme destroyed Puketutu Pa, Te Ahuahu Pa, and Ohaewai Pa, Governor Robert Fitzroy declared he was going to make peace with Ngapuhi and said the two rebels (Heke and Kawiti) had suffered severely and deserved peace. Heke said that ‘he will never submit to the crown’. Later on Heke was beginning to give in to Fitzroy quest for peace, but by then Fitzroy’s place had been taken over by George Grey who rejected Heke’s reluctant ‘O.K’ to peace.

In December 1845, Governor George Grey got together a force of 1300 British troops and advanced on Heke and Kawiti’s new Pa Ruapekapeka, they fought till late January, then Heke and Kawiti’s warriors abandoned the Pa through underground tunnels.

 Soon after the war had subsided the British and Ngapuhi made a peace agreement in Kawakawa as both sides could not sustain the effort to keep fighting.  The Kororareka flag was not re-erected. Heke gave his greenstone mere to Governor Grey as a token of acceptance.

By Liam Trimble-Tobin