Skip to main content

Kōrero: Missions and missionaries

Missionaries as peacemakers

Image
Missionaries as peacemakers

This 1856 illustration shows the Church Missionary Society missionaries William (front) and Henry Williams confronting a Māori war party. William Williams is reading extracts from the Bible in te reo Māori. From the 1830s missionaries such as the Williams brothers had enough knowledge of the Māori language, and enough status, to successfully intervene in armed disputes.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: PUBL-0151-2-013

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.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Peter J. Lineham, Missions and missionaries – Māori converts, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/artwork/28015/missionaries-as-peacemakers (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Peter J. Lineham, i tāngia i te 23 March 2011.