Pages tagged with: maketu

British officer H.G. Robley's painting of a haka with muskets at Maketu, about 1865

On 7 March 1842 Maketu Wharetotara, the 17-year-old son of the Nga Puhi chief Ruhe of Waimate, became the first official execution in New Zealand.

Cannon and plaque commemorating the wreck of the topsail schooner Falcon in the early hours of 1 March 1840.

On 7 March 1842 Maketu Wharetotara, the 17-year-old son of the Nga Puhi chief Ruhe of Waimate, became the first official execution in New Zealand.

Maketū Wharetōtara, the 17-year-old son of the Ngāpuhi chief Ruhe, killed five people at Motuarohia in the Bay of Islands. In March 1842 he became the first person to be legally executed in this country.