In 1846 fighting broke out in the Wellington region as the Ngati Toa chief Te Rangihaeata backed local Maori opposed to European settlement in the Hutt Valley. The campaign claimed few lives and Ngati Toa resistance in the region was effectively ended as a result.
This memorial stands in the Te Puni Street urupā – burial ground – in Petone. It commemorates prominent Te Ātiawa leader Honiana Te Puni’s ‘unbroken friendship’ with Pākehā.