In the 1980s James Belich argued that Tītokowaru’s war had become a ‘dark secret’ of New Zealand history, ‘forgotten by the Pākehā as a child forgets a nightmare’. For Belich, Tītokowaru was ‘arguably the best general New Zealand has ever produced’.
In March 1860 war broke out between Europeans and Māori in Taranaki following a dispute over the sale of land at Waitara. It was the beginning of a series of conflicts that would dog Taranaki for the next 21 years, claiming the lives of several hundred Maori and Europeans and leaving deep scars that persist to the present day.
Wiremu Kingi's opposition to the Crown's attempts to purchase land near the mouth of the Waitara River in north Taranaki in 1859 led to the outbreak of war in March 1860
On 27 June 1860 the British suffered a heavy defeat near Waitara. The Te Atiawa chief Hapurona had strengthened defences on the twin pa sites of Puketakauere and Onukukaitara, which could be seen from Camp Waitara.
The slopes of Mount Taranaki/Egmont were originally reserved to protect the adjacent farm lands from the effects of erosion and flash flood. In 1900 these lands became New Zealand's second national park.
The Waihi cairn records the names of 27 colonial servicemen who died during Titokowaru’s War of 1868-9 and were thought to be buried in the cemetery at the time the memorial was erected.
Memorial in Waitara Historic Cemetery to members of the British forces killed at Puketakauere pā on 27 June 1860 and at Matarikoriko on 29 December 1860.
