Inter-iwi conflict | Oratia Media

Title: Te Kooti’s Last Foray Author: Ron Crosby ISBN: 978-1-99-004234-8 RRP: $49.99 Specs: 240 x 160 mm portrait, 288 pp (16 pp colour) Published: 8 August 2023 For Teacher Resource: click here

On 7 March 1870 the prophet and rebel Te Kooti swept out of Te Urewera to Ōpape, east of Ōpōtiki, in what would be his last major action of the New Zealand Wars. His forces abducted 218 Whakatōhea (mostly women, children, and old men) and marched them into the bush to build a pā called Waipuna. Before long the government sent troops in pursuit — almost exclusively Māori.

In this captivating book, historian Ron Crosby draws on his decades of experience in Te Urewera and recently discovered diaries to recount this overlooked yet crucial episode in the New Zealand Wars — for the first time locating precisely where the events occurred, and telling what really happened. A foreword by Justice Joe Williams sets the scene …

Illustrated with detailed maps, sketches and photos, Te Kooti’s Last Foray sets straight the historical record of Ngāti Porou and Whanganui’s chase, casts new light on the character and abilities of Te Kooti, and brings to life an incredible story of hardship, endurance and conflicting loyalties in colonial New Zealand.

Title: The Musket Wars A History of Inter-Iwi Conflict 1806–1845 Author: Ron Crosby ISBN: 978-0-947506-29-2 RRP: $75 Specs: 240 x 160 mm portrait, flexibind, 432 pp (32 pp colour) Published: October 2012 The Book: First published in 1999, with an introduction by Michael King, The Musket Wars established Ron Crosby’s reputation as a daring, original chronicler of New Zealand history. This best-selling history provides the first comprehensive account of the wars that ravaged the country in the early 1800s, when iwi with newly acquired muskets unleashed terrible utu (revenge) on foes, helped by other introductions like potatoes that fuelled long-range taua (war parties). Ron Crosby weaves the strands of this conflict into an immensely readable narrative, guiding the reader through its complexities with lists of protagonists, a chronology, indexes and above all, superb maps and illustrations. This volume reproduces the revised 2001 edition with significant updates.