DESCRIPTION: In 1866 the New Zealand Government decided to use Chatham Island as a penal colony. The second resident magistrate, William Thomas, returned from the mainland in March 1866 with forty-three Hauhau prisoners, some accompanied by wives and children, and a guard of twenty-six men. These prisoners had been fighting government troops on New Zealand's east coast. The group included Te Kooti, the spiritual leader who later founded the Ringatū faith. In 1868 the government withdrew most of the guard, needing them on the mainland. In July Te Kooti led an escape by the Hauhau prisoners, who tied up their remaining guard captured a ship, and returned to New Zealand. In their time on the Chathams the prisoners were put to work on different building jobs on the island. Among these was the Ponga Whare, built on Wharekauri Station for the station owner Edward Chudleigh in 1867.