Post by Kiwi Frontline on Jun 9, 2019 7:10:56 GMT 12
NZ Listener 8/6/19?
CONFRONTING HISTORY
I agree that we "need an honest and open reckoning with our past" ("Owning our past" May 25), which means acknowledging the good and the bad. If we are to do this, then we need to take a broader view than, "It began with a single musket shot ... in 1842 ... and ended in 1873."
War-fare had been going on in this country for much longer, with far more casualties than the estimated 2250 Maori detailed in Vincent O'Malley's The New Zealand Wars. In the Musket Wars alone, which occurred mainly between 1818 and 1840, battles between Maori resulted in about 20,000 deaths and considerable redrawing of tribal boundaries in the North and South islands as well as the Chatham Islands.
Michael King's History of New Zealand refers to "an incident" at Onawe in Akaroa Harbour, in 1832. My recollection from visiting there several years ago was the chilling effect of reading that hundreds were enslaved, raped, tortured, massacred and eaten.
I spent much of a day looking for information on Te Rauparaha's attack on Onawe and found reference to the almost complete annihilation of Ngai Tahu at Onawe, Kaiapoi, Kaikoura and elsewhere.
Dark episodes, indeed, and it is essential that we acknowledge them honestly, preserve sites and record history at those sites.
HENRY HUDSON, Nelson
sites.google.com/site/kiwifrontline/letters-submitted-to-newspapers
CONFRONTING HISTORY
I agree that we "need an honest and open reckoning with our past" ("Owning our past" May 25), which means acknowledging the good and the bad. If we are to do this, then we need to take a broader view than, "It began with a single musket shot ... in 1842 ... and ended in 1873."
War-fare had been going on in this country for much longer, with far more casualties than the estimated 2250 Maori detailed in Vincent O'Malley's The New Zealand Wars. In the Musket Wars alone, which occurred mainly between 1818 and 1840, battles between Maori resulted in about 20,000 deaths and considerable redrawing of tribal boundaries in the North and South islands as well as the Chatham Islands.
Michael King's History of New Zealand refers to "an incident" at Onawe in Akaroa Harbour, in 1832. My recollection from visiting there several years ago was the chilling effect of reading that hundreds were enslaved, raped, tortured, massacred and eaten.
I spent much of a day looking for information on Te Rauparaha's attack on Onawe and found reference to the almost complete annihilation of Ngai Tahu at Onawe, Kaiapoi, Kaikoura and elsewhere.
Dark episodes, indeed, and it is essential that we acknowledge them honestly, preserve sites and record history at those sites.
HENRY HUDSON, Nelson
sites.google.com/site/kiwifrontline/letters-submitted-to-newspapers