Mt Taranaki forms a dramatic backdrop to the settlement of Parihaka, painted by George Clarendon Beale around 1881. In the 1870s Parihaka had become the base for peaceful resistance to the land confiscations that followed the Taranaki wars of the previous decade. Inhabited by followers of the prophets and resistance leaders Te Whiti-o-Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi, it was the country's largest Māori village at the time of its invasion by government troops in November 1881.
Listen to Te Miringa Hōhaia talk about the history of Tekau Mā Waru (‘the eighteenth’), the monthly forum established at Parihaka by Te Whiti and Tohu and still held in the 21st century.
Transcript
So, Te Whiti and Tohu as part of the growth that was happening here in Parihaka, started the 18th tekau ma waru, as a forum every month, which we still have. We still have the tekau ma waru every month, two days the 18th and 19th. They established that immediately after the start of the Waitara War as a forum to which the Taranaki people and those outside of Taranaki who are coming to Parihaka could come here, could strategise, could bring out their thoughts and their visions for our people.
Using this item
Puke Ariki - Taranaki Museum & Library
Reference: A65.651.
by George Clarendon Beale
Sound file from Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright. To request a copy of the recording, contact Ngā Taonga (He Rerenga Korero, Reference number 42647)
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