whanganui river

Te Rauparaha

Te Rauparaha became perhaps New Zealand’s first political detainee when he was seized during the fighting in the Hutt Valley in 1846. A number of other Maori leaders faced similar treatment during the 19th century wars, including Te Kooti, Te Whiti and Tohu Kakahi.

Moutoa Island, on the Whanganui River.

In the early 1860s upriver Maori adopted the Pai Marire (Hauhau) faith. In May 1864 Matene Te Rangitauira of Taumarunui led an upriver party to attack Wanganui township. The Putiki chiefs Hori Kingi Te Anaua and Hoani Wiremu Hipango refused their upriver cousins passage and inflicted a heavy defeat on them at Moutoa, a small island on the Whanganui River between Hiruharama (Jerusalem) and Ranana.

Maori rights campaigner Eva Rickard dancing at Moutoa Gardens (Pakaitore), Wanganui. A group of protestors are seated in the background. Photographed 31 March 1995.

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The Scenery Preservation Board

The Scenery Preservation Commission was disbanded in 1906 because the government had found that some 'simpler machinery was necessary to more effectively carry out the purposes of the Act'. It also seems that the commission's enthusiasm for reservations clashed with the dominant idea that farming and forestry were more important than preserving scenery. Opponents such as sawmillers, local bodies and farmers who saw it as depriving them of timber, land and revenue viewed the commission's annual expenses of around ₤2000 as excessive.