Frontier. The Battle for the North Island of New Zealand 1860-1872

2000

General DU438 MF123

Takapuna: Celebrity Books

In 1869, while the early settlers in Dunedin were discussing the merits of education and the formation of a University, a far greater event was occurring in the north: The New Zealand Wars, where government forces and some Maori tribes were fighting other Maori. Sovereignty, land purchases, and land confiscations were at the heart of it all. In 1869, the ‘Whakarau’, a group that consisted of Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki, and nearly 300 other mostly East Coast Maori, ended up at Ngātapa, a hilltop pā inland from Tūranga. While certainly imposing, this single cone-shaped mountain lacked a good water supply, but an easy ‘back-door’ for retreat. Here is an artist’s impression of the fortress, which stands 600 metres high