Sketch of Gate Pā

Lieutenant Horatio Gordon Robley’s drawing of the scene the morning after the British unsuccessfully attacked the Māori defences at Gate Pā. British soldiers stand guard while two carry a casualty on a stretcher. Wounded and dead Māori are visible in the trenches. Tauranga Harbour can be seen in the background.

The defeat at Pukehinahina (the Gate Pā) on 29 April embarrassed the British military and its leadership. A garrison of fewer that 250 men, most of them members of the local Ngāi Te Rangi iwi, inflicted heavy casualties on a storming party that was backed up by a much larger British force. Ngāi Te Rangi abandoned the position once it had served its purpose, allowing the British to occupy the empty pā.