Te whiti o rongomai biography of rory anderson

In the New Zealand Settlements Act authorised the settler government to confiscate any land where Maori were considered to be in rebellion — the government then took 3 million acres, mostly in Taranaki and Waikato. Settler surveyors started carving up Waimate plains for settlers from Canterbury and Manawatu. In Te Whiti o Rongomai started non-violent resistance to government surveying.

During that period of non-violent unrest, hundreds of Maori were arrested and kept in prison without trial.

Eruera (Edward) Te Whiti o Rongomai Love was born on at the Top House, the Love family's homestead in Waikawa Bay in the Marlborough Sounds.

Parihaka became a stronghold of Maori opposition to the loss of tribal lands. Let not the Pakehas think to succeed by reason of their guns. I want not war, but they do. The flashes of their guns have singed our eyelashes, and yet they say they do not want war. The government come not hither to reason, but go to out-of-the-way places. The conflicts between the people of Parihaka and the settler-backed government came to a head in On 5 November the peaceful village was invaded by volunteers and members of the Armed Constabulary.

The soldiers were welcomed by the people of Parihaka, children came out skipping, soldiers were offered food and drink and adults allowed themselves to be arrested without protest. The leaders of Parihaka along with hundreds of their people were imprisoned in the South Island, many in freezing cold caves where they died from exposure, disease and malnutrition.

The destruction of Parihaka began immediately. It took the army two weeks to pull down the houses and two months to destroy the crops. Women and girls were raped leading to an outbreak of syphilis in the community. People suspected of being from other areas of the country were thrown out.