Cameron Blockhouse | |
---|---|
General information | |
Type | Blockhouse, fort |
Town or city | Wanganui |
Country | New Zealand |
Coordinates | 39°58′24″S175°07′25″E / 39.97341°S 175.12362°E |
Completed | c. 1868 |
Renovated | 1979, 1988-90 |
Technical details | |
Structural system | Timber framed, clay infill |
The Cameron Blockhouse is a timber blockhouse in Wanganui, New Zealand, built during the New Zealand Wars in the mid-19th century. It is a rare surviving example of a privately constructed redoubt from that era.
John Cameron bought the property known as Marangai in 1841, [1] but it wasn't until around 1868, when he commissioned a blockhouse to protect his family from what he believed was an impending attack by Māori leader Riwha Titokowaru. Titokowaru had won several battles in south Taranaki and was heading south to Wanganui. Heightening the fears of settlers was Te Kooti's raid of Poverty Bay that occurred around the same time. [2]
The blockhouse consists of a floor of compacted earth, double-skinned tōtara walls with clay infill and a corrugated iron roof. [3] Clay was used in the walls for protection against bullets and the threat of fire. [4]
Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont.
Riwha Tītokowaru was a Māori leader in the Taranaki region of New Zealand. He was active in resisting colonisation in the region and after a march for peace in the region in 1867 he was a leader in a war 1868 - 1869 named after him in an effort to stop the occupation of Māori land by colonial settlers. After this period he again became an advocate for peace and made diplomatic efforts between Māori, colonial settlers and the government. He was arrested and jailed after a peaceful occupation of land near Manaia in 1886 and he died two years later in 1888.
The New Zealand Wars took place from 1845 to 1872 between the New Zealand colonial government and allied Māori on one side, and Māori and Māori-allied settlers on the other. They were previously commonly referred to as the Land Wars or the Māori Wars, while Māori language names for the conflicts included Ngā pakanga o Aotearoa and Te riri Pākehā. Historian James Belich popularised the name "New Zealand Wars" in the 1980s, although according to Vincent O'Malley, the term was first used by historian James Cowan in the 1920s.
The Second Taranaki War is a term used by some historians for the period of hostilities between Māori and the New Zealand Government in the Taranaki district of New Zealand between 1863 and 1866. The term is avoided by some historians, who either describe the conflicts as merely a series of West Coast campaigns that took place between the Taranaki War (1860–1861) and Titokowaru's War (1868–69), or an extension of the First Taranaki War.
Tītokowaru's War was a military conflict that took place in the South Taranaki region of New Zealand's North Island from June 1868 to March 1869 between the Ngāti Ruanui and Ngāruahine Māori tribes and the New Zealand Government. The conflict, near the conclusion of the New Zealand wars, was a revival of hostilities of the Second Taranaki War as Riwha Tītokowaru, chief of Ngaruahine, responded to the continued surveying and settlement of confiscated land with well-planned and effective attacks on settlers and government troops in an effort to block the occupation of Māori land.
Whanganui, also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whanganui is the 19th most-populous urban area in New Zealand and the second-most-populous in Manawatū-Whanganui, with a population of 42,800 as of June 2023.
Karamea is a town on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the northernmost settlement of any real size on the West Coast, and is located 96 kilometres (60 mi) northeast by road from Westport. Apart from a narrow coastal strip, the town of Karamea and its local area are completely surrounded to the south, east and north by Kahurangi National Park.
Taumarunui is a small town in the King Country of the central North Island of New Zealand. It is on an alluvial plain set within rugged terrain on the upper reaches of the Whanganui River, 65 km south of Te Kuiti and 55 km west of Turangi. It is under the jurisdiction of Ruapehu District and Manawatū-Whanganui region.
The Rangitīkei River is one of New Zealand's longest rivers, 253 kilometres (157 mi) long.
James Christopher Belich is a New Zealand historian, known for his work on the New Zealand Wars and on New Zealand history more generally. One of his major works on the 19th-century clash between Māori and Pākehā, the revisionist study The New Zealand Wars (1986), was also published in an American edition and adapted into a television series and DVD.
Blockhouse Bay is a residential suburb in the south west of Auckland, in New Zealand's North Island. It is sited on the northern coast of the Manukau Harbour, and is also close to the administrative boundary that existed between Auckland City and Waitakere City, two of the former four cities of what was the Auckland conurbation before amalgamation into Auckland Council.
The Whanganui River is a major river in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the country's third-longest river, and has special status owing to its importance to the region's Māori people. In March 2017 it became the world's second natural resource to be given its own legal identity, with the rights, duties and liabilities of a legal person. The Whanganui Treaty settlement brought the longest-running litigation in New Zealand history to an end.
The military history of New Zealand is an aspect of the history of New Zealand that spans several hundred years. When first settled by Māori almost a millennium ago, there was much land and resources, but war began to break out as the country's carrying capacity was approached. Initially being fought with close-range weapons of wood and stone, this continued on and off until Europeans arrived, bringing with them new weapons such as muskets. Colonisation by Britain led to the New Zealand Wars in the 19th century in which settler and imperial troops and their Māori allies fought against other Māori and a handful of Pākehā. In the first half of the 20th century, New Zealanders of all races fought alongside Britain in the Boer War and both World Wars. In the second half of the century and into this century the New Zealand Defence Force has provided token assistance to the United States in several conflicts. New Zealand has also contributed troops extensively to multilateral peacekeeping operations.
The following lists events that happened during 1950 in New Zealand.
The following lists events that happened during 1949 in New Zealand.
Kūpapa were Māori who fought on the British side in the New Zealand Wars of the 19th century.
A gang patch in New Zealand refers to the identifying insignia of a street gang. Patches have been linked to intimidation of members of the public by gang members. Gang patches perform much the same identification role as gang colours do in other countries.
Cameron Drew Neru Howieson is a New Zealand professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Auckland City in the New Zealand Football Championship and the New Zealand national team.
Charles Gordon Roy Siddells was a New Zealand professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1910s. He played at representative level for New Zealand. He predominantly played for Wanganui, but also played single matches for Wellington, Hawkes Bay, and Taranaki. While at club level he played for the Eastern club in Whanganui from 1912 to 1914, as a centre, i.e. number 3 or 4.
Marian Maguire is a lithographer from New Zealand. She is known for juxtaposing landscapes, historical characters, and mythical figures from New Zealand and from ancient Greece, mixing the realism of 19th-century colonial prints with the more stylized designs of Greek black-figure pottery and Māori wood carvings.