This website presents aspects of the New Zealand Wars fought between Māori and the Crown throughout most of the 19th century, emphasising Māori histories of these engagements in the global context of wars fought against native peoples.
We received the very sad news on Monday 13 November that Rangikotuku had passed away. Rangikotuku Rukuwai lived in New Plymouth with his awesome wife, Ngaraiti. Rangikotuku was the inspiration for the book written about his great-grandfather, Te Whiti O Rongomai, which was published in 2015. Rangikotuku was born in 1927 and was raised at Parihaka, amongst the families of Tohu Kakahi who was Te Whiti’s revered partner during the struggles which began in the… Read more »
Te Pouhere Korero turns 25 this year, thō sadly it’s a birthday that probably won’t be celebrated, with Te Pouhere long since subsumed into other academic associations, like Māori social scientists, or even into the always-dominant New Zealand Historical Association, which, from the outset, was always our worry. Still, it’s a birthday worth acknowledging. # In 1992, a small group of Māori interested in Māori history established Te Pouhere Korero, which was a network of Māori historians,… Read more »
Now also on TV, this recent movie by acclaimed New Zealand director Toa Fraser, The Dead Lands is a terrific film. The movie is totally recounted in Māori, too, appropriately since the action occurs in the days before Europe encountered New Zealand. The movie was released in New Zealand in 2014 and is now available on DVD. James Rolleston (Hongi) and Lawrence Makoare (The Warrior) are also terrific in their… Read more »
New Zealand history is fraught with myth – things that never happened, or at least, the evidence is sketchy. ‘Hobson’s pledge’ is one example. Was there ever such a thing? During the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on 6 February 1840, we are told, Lieutenant Governor Hobson (right) shook hands with each Māori signatory, saying ‘he iwi tahi tatou – we are now one people’. But did this actually happen? Where is… Read more »
‘Indian-Hating’ is the somewhat harsh term (perhaps for New Zealand ears) used by James Sandos and Larry Burgess in their amazing book The Hunt for Willie Boy. Published in 1994, this terrific book tells the story of a manhunt in Southern California in September 1929. Written by two fine ‘white’ historians (as Pākehā are called in the USA), the book’s essential thesis – how ‘Indian-hating’ has uncritically permeated popular… Read more »
The New Zealand Wars ended in 1872, at least, according to most historians. And, militarily speaking, this makes perfect sense. But for Māori, the wars never ended, with the conflicts over land and te tino rangatirantanga – or sovereignty – moving from the battle fields into the Courts and Parliament. The Native Land Court, in particular, proved to be a blunt weapon used by the Crown to acquire customary Māori… Read more »
On 9 June 2017, the Parihaka community met with Crown officials to receive a reconciliation apology, and $9m restitution for past Crown actions. Looking back over the history of Parihaka since the invasion of 1881, this was a truly momentous occasion, as many have rightly said. Enormous credit must go to the Parihaka negotiators and people who made this possible; history was certainly on their side, as it was on the… Read more »
There is no doubt true that the movies possess an enormous power to shape historical images, and memories. We see this of course in the USA, where popular perceptions of the West – and how it was won from Native Americans – continue to influence how ordinary American folk see their founding years. We don’t have anything like this in New Zealand, given that our movie industry isn’t as all-encompassing… Read more »
It can be revealing to compare historic sites, as they once existed, to see how they appear today. This allows us to observe how much the sites have changed, over time – or, how much they remain the same. Landscapes change over time for many reasons, not least which is agricultural development, a real feature of this country’s past of course. # This page illustrates some of the New Zealand Wars sites – then and now…. Read more »