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The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Maori Campaigns and the Pioneering Period: Volume II: The Hauhau Wars, (1864–72)

SERGEANT CARKEEK

SERGEANT CARKEEK

Sergeant Arthur Wakefield Carkeek received the New Zealand Cross in 1870 on the recommendation of Lieut.-Colonel McDonnell. On the 7th February 1870, while the force under the command of Lieut.-Colonel McDonnell was serving in the Patetere country, Te Kooti, with his men, came out of the bush on the Rotorua side of the ranges and was engaged by Captain Mair. It was of the utmost importance that immediate notice should be sent to McDonnell of the whereabouts of the enemy, and Sergeant Carkeek, who was then at Ohinemutu, used every exertion to get natives to convey a note to him at Tapapa through the bush, but no one could be induced to incur the risk. Sergeant Carkeek then determined to take the information himself, and, having found one native who agreed to accompany him, he started at daylight on the 8th, and arrived at Tapapa about 3 p.m. He travelled over thirty miles, through dense bush known to be haunted by the enemy, and in danger of being surprised by them at any moment, when certain death would have been his fate.