The New Zealand Wars, Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa

2019

Provided by the University Book Shop

Wellington: Bridget Williams Books (with kind permission)

Even though Government troops laid siege to Ngātapa, Te Kooti and others escaped. A few days later, in early 1869, Crown forces recaptured some of his men, returning them to the fortress. Witness and general accounts described the frontier justice carried out: the prisoners were led to the edge of a cliff, stripped naked, and then shot. Their bodies were then hurled over the cliff. There was no civil or military trial. While there are no certainties on how many were shot, the Crown accepted that the executions did take place. In 2004, it was recorded in Waitangi Tribunal Report, Turanga Tangataturanga Whenua, that ‘the Ngatapa executions are a stain upon the history of this country, and it is long past time for them to be put right.’ Vincent O’Malley’s latest book covers events at Ngātapa within the wider picture of the New Zealand Wars.