Thursday 7 June 2018

Waipa land wars site tour

We had a fascinating tour of two of the sites of the NZ land wars - Rangiaowhia and Alexandra (Pirongia) redoubt.

We first went to St Pauls Church at Rangiaowhia. Rangiaowhia was a Maori village which was the 'breadbasket' of the Waikato for Maori. Lots of produce left the area going as far as Auckland. It was so good that the settlers wanted it and, after sneaking past the defences at Paterangi, made there way there. When they arrived it was just the women, children, and grandparents, as all the males were at Paterangi. There was confusion over who was male and female and so a number of people were killed. Many sheltered in a church that got burnt down. The settlers didn't have the skills of working the land in that area so the settlers didn't have a lot of success and the settlement died out.

We learnt about the building of the church which happened about 10 years before the war. A European helped the local Maori build it and they did it without any nails. The stain-glass window was carried through the bush from Tauranga without breaking. In the grave yard a number of students noticed how many young people people were buried there. This was a result of the poverty and related sicknesses due to the depression in NZ.





We then went to Alexandra redoubt. It is called that because Pirongia township used to be called Alexandra, before postal confusion with Alexandra in the South Island forced the change. There was never a war at the redoubt but it was created and used as a lookout for the potential of a war.

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