Pages tagged with: wairau

On 17 June 1843, 22 European settlers and four Maori were killed when an armed party of New Zealand Company settlers clashed with Ngati Toa over the purchase of land in the Wairau valley, near modern-day Blenheim.

The Wairau incident has its origins in the migration of Ngati Toa and its allies from Kawhia to the Kapiti region of the southern North Island

Te Rauparaha and Te Rangihaeata ordered Wakefield to stop the survey. William Wakefield instructed his brother Arthur to ignore their opposition.

The news from Wairau was greeted with shock by settlers throughout the colony. The killing of men who had surrendered was viewed as cold-blooded murder. There were fears that these events signalled the beginning of a widespread Maori insurrection.

A contemporary account of the 1843 Wairau incident

Portrait of the Ngati Toa leader and warrior, Te Rangihaeata.

These images show how the area around where the 1843 Wairau incident took place looks today.

Sign at the carpark adjacent to the area where the Wairau incident took place.

Charles Emilius Gold’s impression of the scene of what was known to horrified European settlers as the ‘Wairau massacre’

The memorial at Tuamarina cemetery that was erected in 1869 to commemorate the 1843 Wairau incident

Robert FitzRoy, who first visited New Zealand as commander of the Beagle in 1835, was Governor from 1843, succeeding the late William Hobson. He served until 1845, when he was recalled to Britain and replaced by George Grey.

Also known as the ‘Wairau Affray’ and ‘Wairau Massacre’, this was the first serious clash of arms between Maori and British settlers after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Four Maori and 22 Europeans were killed.

Faced with demands for revenge after the deaths of 22 settlers in an incident in the Wairau Valley, Governor FitzRoy decided that the Maori had been provoked by the unreasonable actions of the Europeans.

Wairau Valley Peace Day memorial hall