The New Zealand Wars

BCFOS -- This excerpt from the final part of James Belich's award-winning history of Māori vs Pākehā armed conflict focuses on Tūhoe prophet Rua Kēnana — the target of the last action of the New Zealand Wars in 1916 (73 years after hostilities began).

He creates an independent community at Maungapōhatu in the Ureweras (complete with a remarkable meeting house).

But any whiff of domestic dissent is intolerable for a government fighting a war overseas. Armed constabulary are sent to apprehend Rua on trumped up charges, with fatal results for two of his followers.