Kōrero: The New Zealand bush

Samuel Calvert’s wood engraving, originally published in the Illustrated New Zealand Herald, depicts an incident in the New Zealand wars. After the south Taranaki leader Tītokowaru attacked a government outpost in mid-1868, colonial soldiers advanced towards Tītokowaru’s pā, Te Ngutu-o-te-manu. Despite the impression given in this scene, the battle was a serious defeat for the colonial forces. Tītokowaru’s men, some of whom were hidden in the bush, ambushed them and forced a retreat, with serious loss of life. Such incidents reinforced a view among Europeans that the bush was a strategic refuge for Māori opponents of the government.