King Country Settlers

 Vincent O’Malley’s work on the New Zealand Wars and especially the Waikato Wars is formative to my understanding of the context that led to the aukati and the deep suspicion that the Kīngitanga had toward the government. The sense of betrayal and injustice along with the material suffering of the Kīngitanga shaped the way they related to the authorities. Their desire for restoration of confiscated lands became an impassable barrier to negotiations for a peaceful settlement, which Michael Belgrave* illuminates. I am aware that O’Malley’s work tends toward polemic as he seeks to show the dark side of our history and legitimate Māori claims for recognition and compensation. Nonetheless, his work is an essential corrective to the earlier histories that focused on the advancement of civilization, the betterment of the Māori race and New Zealand’s superior race relations record. My work will interact with this broader sweep of historiography and offer insights from microhistories that w...

 At the end of the Waikato war (1863-1864), following their defeat at Ōrākau in April 1864, the Waikato Tribes led by the second Māori King Tāwhiao retreated beyond the Pūniu River into the rohe of Maniapoto. An aukati was established which, in the north ran from Aotea Harbour across to Taupo and in the south bordered the rohe of the Taranaki tribes. Government forces overall respected the aukati, as it was politically expedient. For the next twenty years a ‘cold war’ ensued in which it was very dangerous for settlers to enter the King Country. Te Rohe Pōtae effectively operated as a separate state until 1883 when Ngāti Maniapoto chiefs agreed to a survey for the main trunk railway line that was planned to traverse the rohe. Following this, Te Rohe Pōtae was progressively made available for settlement. I am interested in understanding what the relationships between Māori and settlers were like in this early settler period. How did the kingites, the kūpapa Māori and the se...