The Waikato War and the commissioning of the Pioneer The gun turret at Mercer is closely linked with the Waikato military campaign of 1863-64. During the campaign, British and colonial New Zealand authorities invaded an extensive area south of the colonial capital at Auckland. Tensions between settlers and Maori had increased during the 1850s, as resistance to land transfers in Taranaki and the Waikato grew. Demands for greater self-reliance by Maori led to the creation of organizations such as the Kingitanga movement in the Waikato under the leadership of Potatau Te Wherowhero. The colonial administrator, Governor Grey, began preparations for war in 1861, initially creating an efficient transport system for soldiers and supplies by constructing the Great South Road between Drury and Mercer. Consideration was also given to purchasing vessels for the Waikato River. Until the early 1860s, the colonial authorities had received considerable support from Britain in its conflicts with Maori. However, from mid 1862 the British Government withheld financial support on the grounds that civil war in North America threatened to disrupt British interests elsewhere. Accordingly, Britain withdrew its New Zealand-based vessels (with the exception of the Fawn) to Sydney. This occurred in spite of Grey's request for an additional warship to deal with mounting tensions. By November 1862, the New Zealand Government had commissioned the Australasian Steam Navigation Company (ASNC) to build a warship. It was the first warship ever commissioned by the New Zealand Government. It is possible that James Stewart, engineer to the Auckland City Board of Works at the time, oversaw the commissioning of the Pioneer, although his involvement remains uncertain. It is known that the following year, Stewart visited Australia to purchase two more gunboats for the Waikato Campaign. Moves to put steamers on the Waikato were met with strong protests by the Kingitanga movement, who stated they would not allow any vessels to enter the river. The Pioneer The Pioneer (originally named Paparata, and later Waikato) was built in Sydney in just 17 weeks, under the supervision of Tom McArthur, an ASNC staff member. The total cost for the construction of the vessel was £9,500. It was launched on 16 July and trialled in Sydney Harbour before being towed over to New Zealand, arriving at Onehunga on 2 October 1863. The vessel is said to have been specifically designed for New Zealand conditions in Auckland. The Pioneer measured 43 metres long and 7 metres wide and was powered by two 30-hp engines through paddles that were 4 metres in diameter and a little over 2 metres wide. Created with a flat-bottomed hull that drew less than one metre, the vessel was designed to pull barges capable of carrying 300-400 men. It was fully armour-plated to withstand rifle shot and was armed with two rotating Armstrong 24-pound guns located in its cupolas fore and aft and two additional 24 pounders on its deck. An external tube, connected to the boiler, was designed to shoot out a continuous jet of hot water in the event of the enemy attempting to board the vessel. The Pioneer was modeled on Captain Coles' design for a cupola shield gun-boat for coast defence. The design incorporated cutting-edge technology, including the steam powered low-lying hull, armour plating and a rotating gun turret, or cupola. These features represented a marked change from conventional naval vessels, which had been wooden sailing ships with one or more gun decks mounted with fixed guns that could only be fired broadside. Advancements in naval technology across the world had been widely reported in the NZ press in the early 1860s. The Pioneer's Gun Turrets The Pioneer was the earliest vessel in the Southern Hemisphere, and one of the earliest in the world, to use the rotating gun turret, or cupola. The two cupolas fore and aft were 12 feet in diameter and 8 feet in height. They were situated on a flush deck and were placed on revolving carriages. The cupolas were pierced for rifles and contained a 24 pound howitzers each (which were later replaced with 12 pound guns). Communication with the cupolas was from below, on the lower deck. Cowper Coles is considered to have invented the rotating gun cupola, or turret, in 1859. The cupola represented a major innovation in naval military technology, enabling guns to fire in many directions which in turn allowed battleships to be shorter and more manoeuvrable. Coles' ideas were trialled in Britain, but the first warship to put the cupola into practice was the Monitor, a Union ship designed by the Swedish-born engineer, John Ericsson in 1861. The Monitor went into battle against the Confederate's ship, the Merrimac, in the American Civil War, in the first ever engagement between iron plated warships. The success of the Monitor contributed considerably to the popularity of the cupola concept. Navies around the world adopted the 'Coles' cupola, which differed from Ericsson's cupola in that it rotated on a circular roller track located at the periphery of the base of turret, as opposed to resting and rotating on a central spindle, which placed considerable stress on the spindle. The first European warship equipped with Coles' cupola is thought to have been the Rolf Krake, launched for the Danish navy on 6 May 1863, only two months before the Pioneer was completed. The Wivern and Scorpion, launched on 4 July and 3 October 1863, also used the Coles' cupolas. These vessels were built for the American Confederate forces but were seized and refitted by the British Navy. A number of ships using Coles' cupola were launched later in the 1860s, including the Prince Albert, a British vessel built in 1862-6, the Arminus, a Prussian vessel built in 1863-4 and the Huascar, a Peruvian vessel built in 1865. The Cerberus, an Australian vessel built in 1867-70, used a similar turret, but was based on a design by another British naval architect, Edward Reed. These vessels are considered to be the forerunners of modern battleships, providing the link between the traditional war vessels and the first modern battleship, the HMS Destruction in 1871. The Destruction was the first mastless, ocean-going warship to be launched, and was equipped with two gun cupolas with a 280 degree arc of fire. The Role of the Pioneer in the Waikato War The Pioneer played an instrumental part in the military campaign to defeat the Kingitanga forces during the Waikato Campaign. By the time the Pioneer arrived in New Zealand in October 1863, war had already begun. In July 1863, Colonial troops entered Waikato territory, occupying Koheroa (near Mercer) and Tuakau, where they built Alexandra Redoubt. The Colonial troops had hoped for a quick, decisive victory, but after their initial advance into Waikato, further engagements were delayed for three months. Constant Maori raids from the hills surrounding the Great South Road meant that three-quarters of the Colonial troops were tied up protecting supplies and transport routes, leaving a shortage of troops at the front. Another small steamer, the Avon, had been operating on the Waikato River since the war began. The Avon had been purchased in late 1862 and had been enclosed in iron plates and fitted with sentry boxes and an Armstrong gun when the war began. At Onehunga, the Pioneer was fitted with a paddle wheel, its three masts were replaced with two smaller masts and the 24 pound howitzers were replaced with 12 pounders. It left for Port Waikato, towing 6 flat bottomed barges, on about 24 October accompanied by the Eclipse. It was also accompanied by four armed cutters. Together with the Avon, which had been enclosed in iron and fitted with an Armstrong gun, these vessels made up the Waikato flotilla. The arrival of the Pioneer, along with the recruiting of more British troops, freed up the Colonial troops to move along the river and to continue their campaign. A couple of days after its arrival, General Cameron traveled down the Waikato River in the Pioneer to inspect the enemy works at Meremere, accompanied by the Avon and gunboats. During this reconnaissance, the Pioneer was hit by a Maori gunner, using a 24 pound Armstrong gun. The projectile was a steelyard weight and it hulled the vessel, landing in a cask of beef. During the Waikato Campaign, the Pioneer was used to transport troops and supplies to the battlefields, to reconnoitre enemy positions, and to shell defended pas, taking part in the battles at Meremere and Rangiriri. Its deployment for artillery fire is said to have persuaded King Tawhiao (?-1894) to abandon his gun-fighting pa and headquarters at Pikirero in Ngaruawahia, which was vulnerable to shelling from both the Waikato and Waipa Rivers. The Pioneer subsequently transported 500 British troops to Ngaruawahia on 8 December 1863, where they converted the empty pa into a redoubt and supply base for the remaining campaign. The gun turrets were removed from the Pioneer shortly afterwards, possibly in order to lighten the vessel. One was removed in December 1863 and placed possibly in Ngaruawahia, while the other was placed at Point Russell, later known as Mercer. The guns inside each turret were removed at this time, or before. Following the war, the Pioneer and the Rangiriri transported several thousand military settlers to Hamilton and Cambridge, as part of a plan to place armed farmers along a buffer zone between the Colonial settlers and Kingitanga forces. In August 1866, on one of its journeys to Hamilton transporting freight, the Pioneer got stuck in flood waters and sank, but was refloated. Later that same year, the Pioneer broke free from its moorings at Port Waikato with no one on board and began drifting up towards the Manukau Bar in heavy seas. Personnel eventually boarded the vessel and attempted to navigate it through the Manukau Heads. The Pioneer had to be abandoned when it began to sink in the heavy seas and it broke up shortly afterwards on a sand bank. The Mercer Gun Turret Mercer was an important transport hub for the Colonial authorities during the Waikato Campaign. As it marked the end of the Great South Road, Mercer was the destination for the many troops and supplies that made the two-day journey along the road, from Auckland. At the Mercer wharf, the troops and supplies were transferred on to one of the vessels to continue their journey further up the Waikato River. The town takes its name from Captain H. Mercer, of the Royal Artillery, who died at the battle of Rangiriri during the campaign. After the war, Mercer continued to be an important transport centre, with the railway line from Auckland reaching Mercer in the mid 1870s. It remained a busy settlement until the following decade, when road and railway were extended further into the Waikato. There are several references to the Mercer gun turret being used as an overnight lock-up for intoxicated people in the early days of Mercer when it was a busy centre, although no primary information has been located to confirm this. Heavy drinking was certainly a common problem throughout New Zealand in early colonial days. Official records document that a new police station was built in 1889, and that 'minor repairs and alterations' were made to the 'lock-up, Mercer' in 1891. Additional rooms and new buildings were added to the police complex in the next couple of years. A new police station was erected in 1925, which was closed in 1979 at about the time the new motorway was extended through Mercer. The gun turret has been on its current site since at least 1922, and possibly since it was removed from the Pioneer in 1863. An 1866 survey map of Mercer (Point Russell) by Charles Heaphy shows the wharf and a number of suburban sections on either side of Roose Road and the eastern side of Riverbank Road, but does not indicate the position of any buildings or similar structures. An 1877-9 survey map provides more detailed information and shows a large square structure on the road reserve in the vicinity of the current gun turret site. This could represent the turret contained within an enclosing building. The current site of the turret is appropriate, given that it sits at the intersection between the end of the Great South Road and the wharf on the Waikato River at the time of the Waikato Campaign. Conversion into a war memorial By 1922, the gun turret had been converted into a war memorial. The memorial was unveiled on 28 April 1922, by the Governor General, Lord Jellicoe. Lord Jellicoe was New Zealand's second Governor General (1920-24) and a distinguished naval officer, having served as First Lord, Chief of Naval Staff, and Viscount during the First World War. The memorial featured a soldier standing to attention on top of the turret, as well as two plaques attached to the side of the turret: one honouring 20 men who died and 59 who served in World War One, and another indicating that the turret was used on the Pioneer in the New Zealand Wars. Lord Jellicoe addressed a large crowd, commenting that this was an unusual memorial, because of its association with the Pioneer. He referred to the top part of the memorial (the soldier) as a tribute to 'the splendid and loyal co-operation of the great Maori race with the British race during the war' and the lower part (the gun turret) as representing 'the chivalry which distinguished the fighting in the Maori war'. The Mercer War Memorial was one of several war memorials unveiled in Waikato within a few of days of each other, presumably all involving Anzac Day ceremonies. It was unveiled at a time when hundreds of memorials to the First World War were erected and often used as a focus for the local community's annual tribute to the dead. The monument at Mercer was unveiled in the first year that Anzac Day was formally commemorated. Unlike some other memorials, it appears to have been initiated and erected by the local community, and is also unusual in being one of a small group that - by inference or explicitly - remembers the New Zealand Wars. Until a few years ago, the memorial was the focus of annual ANZAC day ceremonies, which were well-attended by the local community. Individuals continue to visit the memorial and tend to the surrounding gardens. The turret has been the victim of vandalism in recent years. The soldier's head has been broken off and re-attached several times - being eventually replaced in 2003 - and access to the interior has been barred due to vandalism inside the turret. Two plaques have since been added to the turret. One corrects the construction date of the Pioneer, stating that it was built in 1863 and wrecked in 1866. The other commemorates all men who gave their lives to make Mercer a place of peace. A driveway has since been formed immediately to the east of the turret, providing access from the main carriageway to Mercer Fire Station, erected to the southeast in the 1980s.

Context The Pioneer Gun Turret and War Memorial is located in the western part of Mercer, close to the banks of the Waikato River. Mercer is a small township in Franklin district, some 50 km south of Auckland. The structure is situated on the southern side of Roose Road, at its junction with Riverbank Road. Roose Road formed the main street in Mercer until the town was bisected by the recent construction of dual carriageway connecting Auckland with Hamilton, and retains a small number of commercial buildings. The road was originally part of the military Great South Road, whose southern terminus at one time is likely to have been at the wharf immediately to the west of the site. Some remnants of the wharf appear to survive at river level. The turret and memorial occupies flat ground within an unformed part of the road reserve, immediately to the northwest of a plot (Sec 56 Block III Town of Mercer) occupied by the local fire station. The monument overlooks a bend in the Waikato River, where the wharf once stood, immediately to the west of Riverbank Road. The structure is currently surrounded by flowering plants and a lawn - also largely contained within the registration - and is used as a place of contemplation. A late nineteenth- or early twentieth-century bay villa lies on an adjacent plot to the northeast. Exterior The gun turret is circular in plan, and sits on a low concrete plinth. The plinth is six-sided and contains a low iron chain railing close to its outer edge. There are four steps up to the monument on its eastern side, with the flat plinth top being sufficiently wide to allow full access around the outside of the turret structure. Access to the steps themselves is obstructed by a flower bed. The turret is surmounted by the near life-sized figure of a soldier. The gun turret measures 3.6 m in diameter and is 2.4 m high. It has a circumference of approximately 11.7m. The turret has vertical sides and a slightly convex roof. It is constructed of 9mm-thick iron plates, riveted to an internal framework of narrow iron bands. The walls incorporate fifteen metal sheets and the roof ten smaller panels. The turret contains four square hinged openings near the base of the structure, on its northern, eastern, southern and western sides. These originally served as firing ports for a rotating artillery gun that was accommodated within the turret. The eastern aperture also incorporates an upper, hinged opening, allowing it to be used as a door. This was evidently part of the original design, incorporating the same heavy-duty hinges as the other apertures. The turret further contains 15 gunslits, arranged equidistantly around the turret walls except for two closely spaced examples in the door on the eastern side of the turret. The vertical slits generally measure 150 mm wide x 610 mm high and are positioned approximately 1.2 m above floor level, at shoulder height for troops originally stationed inside the structure. All gunslits not above an artillery port have a side-hinged shutter, containing a yet narrower vertical aperture for greater protection against enemy fire, measuring 40 mm wide x 300 mm high. The shutter hinges are of the same heavy-duty type as used on the artillery ports. Gunslits above these ports are unshuttered but of the same narrower size as the shuttered examples elsewhere on the turret. The soldier surmounting the turret faces towards the river, where the wharf was once located. Dressed in uniform with his jacket strapped on his back, the soldier stands with his feet together and his hands resting on the butt of a rifle, which stands on its end with its barrel at his feet. The soldier is supported from behind by an urn-like column with 'Mercer' inscribed on it. There are five plaques on the turret. One lists all those from the Mercer area who died in the First World War (1914-18). A second plaque has a roll of honour, naming all those who from the area who served in the same conflict. A third plaque informs that gun turret was from the Pioneer, noting that it was built in 1873. These three plaques were attached to the turret when it was unveiled in 1922. Two plaques have been added to the turret at a later date. One of these corrects the construction date of the Pioneer, stating that it was built in 1863 and wrecked in 1866. The other commemorates all men who gave their lives to make Mercer a place of peace. Interior The interior of the gun turret can be seen through apertures in its side, and contains a central pole attached to top of the structure and its concrete base. Extensive rivetting used to hold separate iron plates together is clearly visible. Spots of corrosion exist on the walls, as well as graffiti. Comparisons The Pioneer gun turret at Mercer is one of only very few internationally remaining examples of the early 'Coles' gun turret design. The second turret from the Pioneer is located in nearby Ngaruawahia (NZHPT Registration # 756, Category II historic place) but, lacking its hinged gunslits and artillery port doors, is not as well preserved. The inclusion of gunslits on both of these turrets is unusual and appears to be internationally unique. The only other surviving naval turrets of Coles' design are likely to be on the slightly later Huascar, constructed in 1865 and converted into a museum ship in 1952. Other ships bearing turrets of Coles' design either sank (Captain 1870) or were scrapped (Arminus 1902, Rolf Krake 1907). A few examples of early naval turrets of different design survive, including the turret from the Monitor, which sank in 1862 in the USA and was salvaged in 2002 for conservation. It housed two guns. The Cerberus, an Australian vessel built in 1867-70, was designed by Coles's contemporary, Edward Reed, with two turrets housing two guns each. The Cerberus was deliberately sunk as a breakwater in 1926 but remains visible at low tide. The Cerberus has been nominated for inclusion on Australia's National Heritage List. The use of a remnant from the New Zealand Wars to commemorate the fallen from the First World War is extremely unusual.