Voices from the New Zealand Wars He Reo nō ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa

‘Welcome to our story, this history. Wherever in the world the bones of your ancestors lie, wherever their ashes may have been dispersed, here you will find traces of them, and of yourself… It is, of course, a story of colonisation and resistance – and a history that has never stopped repeating.’ Arama Rata


The New Zealand Wars of the mid-nineteenth century profoundly shaped the course and direction of our nation’s history. This book takes us to the heart of these conflicts with a series of first-hand accounts from Māori and Pākehā who either fought in or witnessed the wars that ravaged New Zealand between 1845 and 1872. From Heni Te Kiri Karamu’s narrative of her remarkable exploits as a wahine toa, through to accounts from the field by British soldiers and powerful reports by observers on both sides, we learn about the wars at a human level. 


The often fragmentary, sometimes hastily written accounts that make up ‘Voices from the New Zealand Wars’ vividly evoke the extreme emotions – fear, horror, pity and courage – experienced during the most turbulent time in our country’s history. Each account is expertly introduced and contextualised, so that the historical record speaks to us vividly through many voices.