Post by Kiwi Frontline on Dec 18, 2021 11:04:28 GMT 12
O’MALLEY’S RANGIAOWHIA PUT STRAIGHT – Bruce Moon.
Yet again, that hydra-headed monster, the false tale of the burning of a church or “whare karakia” at Rangiaowhia, has reared an ugly head from the pen of Vincent O’Malley.(1)
The very name of his book, “Voices from the New Zealand Wars” should be enough to alert the reader for the plain reason that, with the cessation by 1840 of the ferocious “Musket Wars” amongst the Maori tribes there was never again a war in New Zealand, not even a civil war. There were of course a number of tribal rebellions, that of some Waikato tribes in the 1860s being perhaps the most serious,(2) with both Ngapuhi and Arawa offering warriors to assist in its suppression.
As O’Malley notes, Rangiaowhia had been nominated as a safe place for women, children and old men but he omits mentioning that as the primary food source for the rebels holding the strong fort of Paterangi, this had been totally compromised by its being actively engaged in the rebellion.
It may be, as claimed by O’Malley, that to the rebels “the assault on Rangiaowhia was an almost incomprehensible act of treachery. They had complied with requests to remove their families out of harm’s way, only for the troops to deliberately target them in the most horrific manner possible. In their eyes, those killed in the attack were not victims of war: they were non-combatants who had been brutally murdered.” As one might truly remark in today’s vernacular “yeah right!”
What O’Malley claims here treats the real facts with contempt. In fact, in deciding to occupy Rangiaowhia in a surprise move at dawn, the humanitarian General Cameron(3) planned to do so with minimal casualties on both sides. When the troops arrived, the first move was Captain Wilson’s call to the women and children to move out of harm’s way and most did just that, by an escape to the nearby property of Thomas Power and his wife, Rahapa Te Hauata where a white flag was raised and they were not touched any further.......
Read on here > sites.google.com/view/kiwifrontline/blogs/bruce-moon
Yet again, that hydra-headed monster, the false tale of the burning of a church or “whare karakia” at Rangiaowhia, has reared an ugly head from the pen of Vincent O’Malley.(1)
The very name of his book, “Voices from the New Zealand Wars” should be enough to alert the reader for the plain reason that, with the cessation by 1840 of the ferocious “Musket Wars” amongst the Maori tribes there was never again a war in New Zealand, not even a civil war. There were of course a number of tribal rebellions, that of some Waikato tribes in the 1860s being perhaps the most serious,(2) with both Ngapuhi and Arawa offering warriors to assist in its suppression.
As O’Malley notes, Rangiaowhia had been nominated as a safe place for women, children and old men but he omits mentioning that as the primary food source for the rebels holding the strong fort of Paterangi, this had been totally compromised by its being actively engaged in the rebellion.
It may be, as claimed by O’Malley, that to the rebels “the assault on Rangiaowhia was an almost incomprehensible act of treachery. They had complied with requests to remove their families out of harm’s way, only for the troops to deliberately target them in the most horrific manner possible. In their eyes, those killed in the attack were not victims of war: they were non-combatants who had been brutally murdered.” As one might truly remark in today’s vernacular “yeah right!”
What O’Malley claims here treats the real facts with contempt. In fact, in deciding to occupy Rangiaowhia in a surprise move at dawn, the humanitarian General Cameron(3) planned to do so with minimal casualties on both sides. When the troops arrived, the first move was Captain Wilson’s call to the women and children to move out of harm’s way and most did just that, by an escape to the nearby property of Thomas Power and his wife, Rahapa Te Hauata where a white flag was raised and they were not touched any further.......
Read on here > sites.google.com/view/kiwifrontline/blogs/bruce-moon