Pioneer Gun Turret

The gunboat Pioneer was part of the armoured Waikato Flotilla and served during the Waikato war (1863-64).

One of its turrets is now part of a World War 1 memorial. The turrets housed 12-pounder Armstrong guns and were loop-holed for small arms. A notice on the turret explains how an earlier notice had the wrong date suggesting it was built 10 years after the battles in which it was engaged. The Pioneer had turrets fore and aft and was capable of carrying 500 men in light order. During the period covered by the Waikato War (July 1863 to April 1864), three steamers, the Avon, the Pioneer and the Koheroa served along with four armoured barges and several smaller barges. The flotilla enabled rapid movement of forces and supplies into the Waikato heartland, as well as the shelling and outflanking of Maori positions.