Heritage

Kororāreka Russell holds a remarkable place in New Zealand’s history. Many early Māori Chiefs dominated the town and the peninsular. It was a meeting place where Cook and Tapua, with his son Patuone, first met. It was a place of encounter with many battles including the Girls War and the beginning of the Northern Wars with the sacking of Kororāreka out of frustration with the failure to live up to Treaty undertakings.

It is the place where the first Church was built and the place where Hobson made the proclamation claiming New Zealand for Britain with many Māori and Pākehā in attendance. It was the place where Hobson and others met considering the early drafts of the Treaty, it is home of Maiki/Flagstaff Hill where on four occasions the staff was felled, by Hone Heke, in frustration – in the 1850s it was re-erected by Māori from the rohe in an action of reconciliation with the Crown.