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Story: History

Camp Waitara, 1860

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Camp Waitara, 1860

When the Te Āti Awa chief Wiremu Kīngi Te Rangitāke refused to allow land at Waitara to be sold to the government, British troops occupied the land. War was the result. On the disputed land, the British built their Camp Waitara, shown in this 1860 watercolour. The main battles in the first Taranaki war were fought in the area. Later in the 1860s, the main fighting occurred in the Waikato and elsewhere in Taranaki.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: A-032-008

by J. McCarthy

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

John Wilson, History – War, expansion and depression, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/1642/camp-waitara-1860 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by John Wilson, published 3 March 2009, updated 1 April 2020.