Images relating to the New Zealand Wars

A DigitalNZ Story by National Library Services to Schools

Images relating to a series of wars in New Zealand between the British Crown and Māori that began in the 1840s.

Toitū he kāinga, whatu ngarongaro he tangata

While the land remains the inhabitants are gone

Anderson, Robert S., fl. 1864 :Plan of ground surrounding Orakau Pa. Plan of pa [ms map]. Shewing the disposition of the troops under Brigadier Gen...

Alexander Turnbull Library

Hutton, Thomas Biddulph 1824-1886 :Owharawai. Pa of Hone Heke, copied from a drawing taken by Mr Symonds of the 99th Regt [1845]

Alexander Turnbull Library

Kawiti's pa, Ruapekapeka

Auckland Libraries

THE NEW ZEALAND WARS - NGĀ PAKANGA O AOTEAROA

The New Zealand wars were a series of mid-19th-century battles between some Māori tribes and government forces (which included British and colonial troops) and their Māori allies, who were sometimes known as kūpapa.

Source: New Zealand wars, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, (accessed 10 July 2019)

New Zealand Wars map

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Messenger, Arthur Herbert, 1877-1962 :North Island of New Zealand,"Te Ika a Maui" Scenes of principal engagements in Maori Wars 1845-1872

Alexander Turnbull Library

Waikato War map

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

IMPACT

Figures are uncertain, but about 560 British and colonial troops, 250 kūpapa and 2,000 Māori fighting the Crown may have died in the wars. Māori who had fought the Crown lost large areas of land – a total of about 1 million hectares initially, before some land was returned.

Source: New Zealand wars, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, (accessed 10 July 2019)

MAPS

Image: Sketch map of the North Island of New Zealand shewing the Maori tribes, their population, their lands in yellow & the British settlements in red

Sketch map of the North Island of New Zealand shewing the Maori tribes, their population, their lands in yellow & the British settlements in red

Auckland Libraries

Image: [Hill, Howard, fl 1870's-1880's] : [Central North Island showing war campaigns and trails led by Colonel George Whitmore against Maori during the New Zealand Wars] [ms map]. 1868-1869.

[Hill, Howard, fl 1870's-1880's] : [Central North Island showing war campaigns and trails led by Colonel George Whitmore against Maori during the N...

Alexander Turnbull Library

Image: [Sims Commission?] :[Map showing Maori land confiscation, land before the Land Court, boundaries of Crown purchases and iwi districts from South Auckland to Lake Taupo] [map with ms annotations]. [1927?]

[Sims Commission?] :[Map showing Maori land confiscation, land before the Land Court, boundaries of Crown purchases and iwi districts from South Au...

Alexander Turnbull Library

Confiscation of Māori land

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

[Sims Commission?] :[Map showing Maori land confiscation in Bay of Plenty Confiscation area] [map with ms annotations]. [1927?]

Alexander Turnbull Library

Confiscated territory after the Maori Wars, in the Waikato, 1864

Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga

LEADERS

The New Zealand wars left a long memory in the Māori community. Those tribes which had fought against the Crown, especially if they suffered from land confiscation, remained pained and at times bitter. This was reflected in the unwillingness of Taranaki and Waikato Māori to enlist in the First World War.

Source: New Zealand wars, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, (accessed 10 July 2019)

Image: Mitchell, Leonard Cornwall 1901-1971 :Rewi Maniapoto, chief of the Ngati-Maniapoto tribe, and heroic defender of Orakau in 1864. [1930s or 1940s?]

Mitchell, Leonard Cornwall 1901-1971 :Rewi Maniapoto, chief of the Ngati-Maniapoto tribe, and heroic defender of Orakau in 1864. [1930s or 1940s?]

Alexander Turnbull Library

Hēnare Taratoa

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Tōpine Te Mamaku

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Te Ua Haumēne

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Te Rauparaha

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Tītokowaru

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Wiremu Tāmihana

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Rewi Maniapoto

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Rua Kenana

Alexander Turnbull Library

Portrait of Rangihaeata

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Hōne Heke, Kawiti and Hariata Rongo

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Portrait of Hoani Wiremu Hīpango

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Tohu Kākahi

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Drawings showing Parihaka, Te Whiti and Te Whiti addressing a crowd, 1881?

Auckland Libraries

Te Kooti

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki

Te Kooti

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki

Strutt, William 1825-1915 :Hone Ropiha, a powerful chief in the Taranaki district... 1856

Alexander Turnbull Library

[Artist unknown] :[Wiremu Henare Taratoa offers water to Lieutenant-Colonel Booth, 1864. 1860s?].

Alexander Turnbull Library

Mete Kīngi Paetahi

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Governor Sir George Grey

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki

Thomas McDonnell

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Gustavus Ferdinand von Tempsky

Alexander Turnbull Library

Duncan Cameron and troops

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Captain John Bryce, Kai Iwi Volunteers

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Sir Trevor Chute, 1816-1886

Alexander Turnbull Library

Sir Thomas Gore Browne

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Photograph: Colonel Whitmore

Canterbury Museum

CAMPAIGNS

1840s

The first series of wars took place in the 1840s, when Māori were still a majority of the population, although Pākehā dominated the towns. The 1840s wars began with fighting between Ngāpuhi and government troops at Kororāreka (Russell) in 1845. A series of battles were fought in the Bay of Islands until early 1846. Later that year there was fighting between government and Māori in Wellington, and there were battles in Whanganui in 1846 and 1847.

Source: New Zealand wars, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, (accessed 10 July 2019)

Ruapekapeka pā painting

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Image: [Bridge, Cyprian], 1807-1885 :View of the pah of Ruapekapeka after its capture and when in flames from the mortar battery in view of the principle stockade - distance 900 yards, 12th Jany 1846

[Bridge, Cyprian], 1807-1885 :View of the pah of Ruapekapeka after its capture and when in flames from the mortar battery in view of the principle ...

Alexander Turnbull Library

Hōne Heke's pā at Ōhaeawai

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

[Page, George Hyde] 1823-1908 :[The battle of Okaihau. 1845]

Alexander Turnbull Library

[Page, George Hyde] 1823-1908 :Boulcott's Stockade in the Hutt Valley N. Z. 1846. Graves of soldiers 58th Reg.

Alexander Turnbull Library

[Page, George Hyde] 1823-1908 :[The fight at Battle Hill, Horokiwi, 6th August, 1846.]

Alexander Turnbull Library

1860s AND 1870s

The most sustained and widespread campaign was the clash between the British Empire and the Māori king fought in Taranaki, Waikato and the Bay of Plenty between 1860 and 1864. The last period of the wars, from 1864 to 1872, was largely fought by colonial troops and their Māori allies against followers of Māori prophetic leaders. These wars occurred in Taranaki, East Coast and the central North Island.

Source: New Zealand wars, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, (accessed 10 July 2019)

Redmayne, Thomas, fl 1880s-1890s :Attack on the Maori Pah at Rangiriri. [1863]

Alexander Turnbull Library

The gunboat Pioneer at anchor off Meremere

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

‘The war council’

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

'Encampment of Chute's forces near Pūtahi pā, on the Whenuakura River'

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Chevalier, Nicholas, 1828-1902 :The war in New Zealand - storming the rifle pits at Te Ranga, June 21 1864. [London, 1865]

Alexander Turnbull Library

Ake! Ake! Ake! Rewi defying the British troops at Orakau.

University of Otago

Surrender of Ngāi Te Rangi

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

Battle at Puketutu

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

View of Mt Egmont, Taranaki, New Zealand, taken from New Plymouth, with Maoris driving off settlers’ cattle

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Patea. Our seige train and flying artillery.

University of Otago

Waitara camp

Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage

An incident during a Hau-hau raid on a settler’s farm.

University of Otago

Death of Major Von Tempsky

Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua Whanganui

1880-1916

In Taranaki peaceful protests against land confiscations were led by prophets Te Whiti-o-Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi at Parihaka. Parihaka was occupied by government forces on 5 November 1881 and the settlement was partially destroyed. Protests against land confiscation continued.These wars occurred in Taranaki, East Coast and the central North Island.

The last skirmish between the government and Māori occured in 1916 with the arrest of Rua Kēnana at Maungapōhatu. Two Tūhoe men were killed during a firefight.

Source: New Zealand wars, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, (accessed 10 July 2019)