The Wairau incident
Ngati Toa and the New Zealand Company
Violence erupts
The fallout from Wairau
The news from Wairau shocked 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.
Newspaper report of the Wairau incident
An account of the 'Massacre at Wairau' published in the New Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator, 1 July 1843. See full article on PapersPast.
Portrait of Te Rangihaeata
Portrait of the Ngati Toa leader and warrior, Te Rangihaeata.
Te Rangihaeata and his uncle, Te Rauparaha, led their tribe during the Wairau incident of 1843. Te Rangihaeata's wife, Te Rongo, was killed during the fighting and he took utu (revenge) by killing the Europeans taken prisoner at Wairau.
Area around the Wairau incident today
Wairau incident map
Sign at the carpark adjacent to the area where the Wairau incident took place.
See a Google map of this area today.
Olwyn Crutchley, 2006
Scene of the Wairau incident
'Scene of the Wairau massacre'. Colonel Charles Emilius Gold's impression of the scene of what was known to horrified European settlers as the 'Wairau massacre' was painted in 1851, eight years after the event.
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