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Defence Of Pukekohe East
The Defence of Pukekohe East was an action during the Invasion of the Waikato, part of the New Zealand Wars. On 13 September and 14 September 1863, 11 settlers and 6 militia men inside a half completed stockade around the Pukekohe East church held off a Māori taua or war party of approximately 200 men from Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāti Pou iwi, until they were relieved by detachments of the 18th, 65th and 70th Regiments. In a series of actions around the stockade the taua sustained 20% casualties and retreated. Background Many Europeans settled in New Zealand between 1830 and 1860, by which time British approximately equaled the Maori. Europeans were generally welcomed by the Māori. However disputes over land, sovereignty and mana lead to skirmishes between Europeans and pro and anti European Maori, known as the New Zealand Wars, notably in the north in the 1840s, in Taranaki from 1860 and in the Waikato in 1863. In the Waikato, south of the British settlement at Auckland, Mā ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Zealand Wars
The New Zealand Wars took place from 1845 to 1872 between the New Zealand colonial government and allied Māori on one side and Māori and Māori-allied settlers on the other. They were previously commonly referred to as the Land Wars or the Māori Wars, while Māori language names for the conflicts included ("the great New Zealand wars") and ("the white man's anger"). Historian James Belich popularised the name "New Zealand Wars" in the 1980s, although according to Vincent O'Malley, the term was first used by historian James Cowan in the 1920s. Though the wars were initially localised conflicts triggered by tensions over disputed land purchases, they escalated dramatically from 1860 as the government became convinced it was facing united Māori resistance to further land sales and a refusal to acknowledge Crown sovereignty. The colonial government summoned thousands of British troops to mount major campaigns to overpower the Kīngitanga (Māori King) movement and also con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Bush
"The bush" is a term mostly used in the English vernacular of Australia and New Zealand where it is largely synonymous with '' backwoods'' or ''hinterland'', referring to a natural undeveloped area. The fauna and flora contained within this area must be indigenous to the region, although exotic species will often also be present. The Australian and New Zealand usage of the word "bush" for "forest" or scrubland, probably comes from the Dutch word "bos/bosch" ("forest"), used by early Dutch settlers in South Africa, where it came to signify uncultivated country among Afrikaners. Many English-speaking early European settlers to South Africa later migrated to Australia or New Zealand and brought the term with them. Today, in South Africa Fynbos tends to refer to the heath vegetation of the Western Cape and Eastern Cape. It is also widely used in Canada to refer to the large, forested portion of the country. The same usage applies in the US state of Alaska. History Indigenous A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wahanui
Te Wahanui Reihana Te Huatare (also Te Reihana Whakahoehoe; died 5 December 1897) was a diplomat and leader of the Ngāti Maniapoto iwi. Wahanui was born probably in the late 1820s. His father was Te Ngohi-te-arau, also known as Te Huatare, of Ngāti Maniapoto. His mother was Tarati, who belonged to Ngāti Waiora of Mokau and came from the Piopio area. Wahanui was raised in the Waipā Valley as a Christian, and attended the Wesleyan Native Institution at Three Kings College in Auckland, afterwards returning to Te Kopua to live with his people. In the late 1850s Wahanui organised a mail service between Te Awamutu and Napier, and set up a tribal administration and law enforcement system which attracted the positive attention of John Gorst. He also participated in debates around the setting up of the Māori King Movement. left, Wahanui's wife, Te Wairingiringi, by Kate Sperrey, 1930s. Wahanui became increasingly opposed to Pākehā institutions and government, and fought at P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waka (canoe)
Waka () are Māori watercraft, usually canoes ranging in size from small, unornamented canoes (''waka tīwai'') used for fishing and river travel to large, decorated war canoes (''waka taua'') up to long. The earliest remains of a canoe in New Zealand were found near the Anaweka estuary in a remote part of the Tasman District and radiocarbon-dated to about 1400. The canoe was constructed in New Zealand, but was a sophisticated canoe, compatible with the style of other Polynesian voyaging canoes at that time. Since the 1970s about eight large double-hulled canoes of about 20 metres have been constructed for oceanic voyaging to other parts of the Pacific. They are made of a blend of modern and traditional materials, incorporating features from ancient Melanesia, as well as Polynesia. Waka taua (war canoes) ''Waka taua'' (in Māori, ''waka'' means "canoe" and ''taua'' means "army" or "war party") are large canoes manned by up to 80 paddlers and are up to in length. Large waka, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waikato River
The Waikato River is the longest river in New Zealand, running for through the North Island. It rises on the eastern slopes of Mount Ruapehu, joining the Tongariro River system and flowing through Lake Taupō, New Zealand's largest lake. It then drains Taupō at the lake's northeastern edge, creates the Huka Falls, and flows northwest through the Waikato Plains. It empties into the Tasman Sea south of Auckland, at Port Waikato. It gives its name to the Waikato region that surrounds the Waikato Plains. The present course of the river was largely formed about 17,000 years ago. Contributing factors were climate warming, forest being reestablished in the river headwaters and the deepening, rather than widening, of the existing river channel. The channel was gradually eroded as far up river as Piarere, leaving the old Hinuera channel through the Hinuera Gap high and dry. The remains of the old course are seen clearly at Hinuera, where the cliffs mark the ancient river edges. The Wai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meremere
Meremere is a small town in the northern Waikato region in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on the east bank of the Waikato River, 50 kilometres north of Hamilton and 63 km south of Auckland. Meremere was the site of fighting in 1863 during the New Zealand Wars, at which time the settlement (then known as Mere Mere) was the site of a Māori defensive outpost. For a number of years a coal-fired power station operated in Meremere, and much of the workforce lived in the town. The station was the first government-built large scale thermal power station, opening in 1958 and was a notable landmark for travellers along State Highway 1, which runs past the town. An aerial ropeway carried buckets of coal to the station from the Maramarua coal mine. The station closed in 1991 and there were plans during the 1990s to convert the station into a waste to energy plant, using waste from Auckland. These plans, known as the Olivine project, did not eventuate. The site was u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Cowan (New Zealand Writer)
James Cowan (14 April 1870 – 6 September 1943) was a pākehā New Zealand non-fiction author, noted for his books on colonial history and Māori ethnography. A fluent Māori speaker, he interviewed many veterans of the New Zealand Wars. His book ''The New Zealand wars: a history of the Māori campaigns and the pioneering period'' (1922–23) is his best known. Early life Cowan's father was William Andrew Cowan and was Irish. His mother Elizabeth Jane Qualtrough was his father's second wife. They were married in 1866. Cowen was born in East Tāmaki in 1870. He spent his childhood in Kihikihi, on the border of the King Country. The farm was on land confiscated from the Waikato Māori, and contained part of the site of the battlefield of Orakau. Settler militia were based at a military blockhouse close to his home, while there was a considerable Māori community in the area. The young Cowan grew up speaking both English and Māori. He never lost his fascination with Māori cult ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pā (Māori)
The word pā (; often spelled pa in English) can refer to any Māori village or defensive settlement, but often refers to hillforts – fortified settlements with palisades and defensive terraces – and also to fortified villages. Pā sites occur mainly in the North Island of New Zealand, north of Lake Taupō. Over 5,000 sites have been located, photographed and examined, although few have been subject to detailed analysis. No pā have been yet located from the early colonization period when early Polynesian-Māori colonizers lived in the lower South Island. Variations similar to pā occur throughout central Polynesia, in the islands of Fiji, Tonga and the Marquesas Islands. In Māori culture, a great pā represented the mana (prestige or power) and strategic ability of an iwi (tribe or tribal confederacy), as personified by a rangatira (chieftain). Māori built pā in various defensible locations around the territory (rohe) of an iwi to protect fertile plantation-sites and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pōkeno
Pōkeno is a small town in the Waikato District of the Waikato region in New Zealand, southeast of Auckland, from Tuakau and from Mercer. State Highway 1 originally ran through the town, but the upgrading of the highway in 1992 to expressway standards mean that the town has been bypassed. History The town is named for the Ngāti Tamaoho settlement in the area called Pokino, located to the northwest of the current town centre. A military installation, Pokino Camp, was set up in the area in December 1861 after Governor George Edward Grey called for a road to be completed from Drury to the Waikato River, Great South Road. In mid-1862, work began on Queen's Redoubt, a military base which would become General Cameron's base of operations for the Invasion of the Waikato, housing 450 soldiers. The Māori village of Pokino to the north of Queen's Redoubt was deserted in July 1863 just prior to the start of the invasion (officially the village was listed as abandoned, though likely ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Totara
''Podocarpus totara'' (; from the Maori-language ; the spelling "totara" is also common in English) is a species of podocarp tree endemic to New Zealand. It grows throughout the North Island and northeastern South Island in lowland, montane and lower subalpine forest at elevations of up to 600 m. Tōtara is commonly found in lowland areas where the soil is fertile and well drained. Description The tōtara is a medium to large tree, which grows slowly to around 20 to 25 m, exceptionally to 35 m; it is noted for its longevity and the great girth of its trunk. The bark peels off in papery flakes, with a purplish to golden brown hue. The sharp, dull-green, needle-like leaves are stiff and leathery, 2 cm long. This plant produces highly modified cones with two to four fused, fleshy, berry-like, juicy scales, bright red when mature. The cone contains one or two rounded seeds at the apex of the scales. The largest known living tōtara, the Pouakani Tree, near Pureora in the ce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dacrydium Cupressinum
''Dacrydium cupressinum'', commonly known as rimu, is a large evergreen coniferous tree endemic to the forests of New Zealand. It is a member of the southern conifer group, the podocarps. The Māori name ''rimu'' comes from the Polynesian term ''limu'' which the tree's foliage were reminded of, ultimately from Proto-Austronesian *''limut'' meaning "moss". The former name "red pine" has fallen out of common use. Distribution Rimu grows throughout New Zealand, in the North Island, South Island and Stewart Island/Rakiura. This species is common in lowland and montane forest. Although the largest concentration of trees is now found on the West Coast of the South Island, the biggest trees tend to be in mixed podocarp forest near Taupō (e.g., Pureora, Waihaha, and Whirinaki Forests). A typical North Island habitat is in the Hamilton Ecological District, where '' Fuscospora truncata'' and rimu form the overstory. Associate ferns on the forest floor are ''Blechnum discolor'', ''Bl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
