Reproduction photograph of Thomas Adamson and Wiremu Mutu Mutu

c. 1874

Hocken Pictorial Collection, P1971-005/1-012c

Unpublished

This staged photograph is of Wiremu Mutu Mutu and Thomas Adamson, holding a hatchet. According to James Cowan in his Hero Stories of New Zealand (1935), ‘Tom Adamson won the New Zealand Cross for his daring scouting work in the bush between the Waitotara and the back country of Wairoa (now Waverley), in 1869.’ Some of the other New Zealand Cross recipients include Constable Henare Kepa te Ahururu, 1st Division, Armed Constabulary, Moturoa (1868); Dr Isaac Earl Featherston, Native Contingent, Otapawa Pa (1866); Sergeant Richard Shepherd, Armed Constabulary, Otauto (1869); and Major Ropata Wahawaha, Native Contingent, Ngatapa (1869).