Te Pāhuatanga - The Invasion of Parihaka

Founded in the mid-1860s, Parihaka attracted dispossessed and disillusioned Māori from around the country who were impressed by the kaupapa of its main leaders, Te Whiti-o-Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi, both of the Taranaki and Te Āti Awa iwi.

When in May 1879 the colonial government moved to occupy fertile land on the Waimate Plains that had been declared confiscated in the 1860s, Te Whiti and Tohu developed tactics of non-violent resistance.

On 5 November 1881 about 1600 volunteers and Constabulary Field Force troops marched on Parihaka. Several thousand Māori sat quietly on the marae as singing children greeted the force led by Native Minister John Bryce. Bryce ordered the arrest of Parihaka’s leaders, the destruction of much of the village and the dispersal of most of its inhabitants.

"It was one of the most brutal events in New Zealand’s past. Government troops marched into Parihaka and took control of the settlement. They systematically destroyed the community’s ability to sustain itself, suspending the ordinary course of law and imprisoning people without trial for participating in what was a justified act of non-violent resistance."  - Alexander Gillespie, How NZ’s colonial government misused laws to crush non-violent dissent at Parihaka.

"The non-violent defiance of Te Whiti-o-Rongomai, Tohu Kakahi and their followers at Parihaka is one of the great New Zealand narratives." - by Dick Scott, Parihaka Invaded