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Story: Police

Constabulary Force, Kāwhia, 1884

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Constabulary Force, Kāwhia, 1884

Kāwhia lay within the boundaries of the King Country. Its people resisted selling land to Europeans from 1863 until the early 1880s, when a small area on the harbour was offered to the government. In 1883 the Māori king's supporters objected to the sale. Soon afterwards more than 100 members of the Constabulary Force landed at Kāwhia to set up a redoubt (fortified camp). This photo, taken the following year, shows the men on parade.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, E. R. Williams Collection

Reference: 1/1-025750-F

by William Williams

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

Richard S. Hill, Police – Policing a stable society, 1880s to 1960s, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/33856/constabulary-force-kawhia-1884 (accessed 25 June 2026).

Story by Richard S. Hill, published 8 June 2012.