5     IMMEDIATE CAUSES

5 IMMEDIATE CAUSES

Causing Wars  Wars come about for many reasons. Some of those reasons are ‘general’ or ‘background’ in nature, such as, in the case of the New Zealand Wars, issues of land competition, the pressures of immigration and differences in political...
Māori Affairs and Reform

Māori Affairs and Reform

The sad passing of Koro Wetere on 23 June 2018 marked quite a milestone for Māori politics, and Māori history. As a Minister in the reforming Fourth Labour Government, Wetere had his hands on significant pieces of legislation, not least that affecting the Waitangi...

3 MĀORI OBTAIN THE VOTE 1867

The Māori Franchise   In 1867, Māori were finally awarded the vote, 27 years after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. It had taken that long for the Crown to grant Māori the right to participate in New Zealand’s political process. By the Māori...

Farewell, Rangikotuku 1927-2017

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,...

6 TAURANGA 1864

29 April 1864     The Battle of Gate Pā. The war in Tauranga quickly followed the end of war in the Waikato and invloved many Māori returning to the Bay of Plenty after fighting alongside Waikato. Gate Pā stood on a high hill and was attacked by the British Army in an...