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Biography: Heke Pōkai, Hōne Wiremu

Hōne Wiremu Heke Pōkai fells the flagstaff at Kororāreka

Felling the flagstaff

In 1844 and 1845 Hōne Heke repeatedly cut down the flagstaff at Kororāreka in protest at what he saw as the denigration by the British Crown of Māori chiefly authority. His symbolic actions were to become mythologised; this artist’s impression illustrated Reginald Horsley’s 1908 book, New Zealand: romance of empire.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: A-004-037

Photolithograph by Arthur David McCormick

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.

How to cite this page

Freda Rankin Kawharu. 'Heke Pōkai, Hōne Wiremu', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 1990. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/408/felling-the-flagstaff (accessed 4 June 2026).