Waikato

Events In History

22 May 1995

Waikato-Tainui sign Deed of Settlement with the Crown

Waikato–Tainui was the first iwi to reach an historial Treaty of Waitangi settlement with the Crown for injustices going back to the 1860s. The Deed of Settlement included cash and land valued at a total of $170 million. Read more...
17 July 1863

Māori force defeated at Koheroa

The British invasion force led by Lieutenant-General Duncan Cameron had its first significant encounter with Waikato Māori at Koheroa, near Mercer. Read more...
12 July 1863

British forces invade Waikato

Lieutenant-General Cameron's force crossed the Mangatawhiri stream. This was the first act of war in the Waikato campaign, which had been planned in part to gain land for European settlement. Read more...

Biography

Tāwhiao's father Pōtatau was the first Māori King, and on his death in 1860 Tāwhiao inherited the kingship and the spiritual leadership of his people. He was king for the next 34 years, including the most turbulent period in New Zealand's race relations history.

Te Rauparaha

Te Rauparaha was a Ngāti Toa chief and warrior. Sometimes called the 'Napoleon of the Southern Hemisphere', he ruled the lower end of the North Island from his base at Kapiti Island for the best part of 20 years

Pōtatau Te Wherowhero

In the 1850s, a movement was set up to appoint a Māori king who would unite the tribes, protect land from further sales and make laws for Māori to follow. Te Wherowhero became the first Māori king in 1858.

James Cowan

Biography of prolific historian and journalist best known for the two-volume The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Māori Campaigns and the Pioneering Period

Articles

Māori King movement - 1860-94

King Tāwhiao's reign was dominated by the Waikato War and its fallout.
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Page 7 – The death of Tāwhiao
Tāwhiao died on 26 August 1894. He was buried at Taupiri after a tangihanga in September that was attended by thousands.

Māori King movement origins

In May 2008 Māori gathered at Ngāruawāhia to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the formation of the Kīngitanga, or Māori King Movement. The current king, Te Arikinui Tūheitia Paki, was crowned in August 2006 following the death of his mother, Dame Te Ātairangikaahu.

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Page 5 – Pōtatau Te Wherowhero
In April 1857, at Rangiriri, Pōtatau agreed to become king. He was crowned and anointed at Ngāruawāhia in June 1858.

Māori and the First World War

Māori reactions to serving in the First World War largely reflected iwi experiences of British actions in the 19th century.

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Page 3 - Māori objection to conscriptionMāori served in the First World War in the Maori Contingent. At home, some Māori strongly opposed

The Treaty in practice

Amalgamating Māori into colonial settler society was a key part of British policy in New Zealand after 1840. Economic and social change, along with land-purchase programmes, were central to this process.
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Page 8 - The Waikato-Tainui claimThe Waikato-Tainui people and the Crown signed a Deed of Settlement in 1995. It included a formal apology for Crown actions in the wars of the 1860s that had brought devastation

Regional rugby

The passion and parochialism of provincial rugby has helped give the game a special place in New Zealand’s social and sporting history. Read brief histories, highlights and quirky facts about each of New Zealand's 26 regional rugby teams.
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Page 8 - Waikato rugbyHistory and highlights of rugby in the Waikato