Parihaka

Since 2017 members of Flagstaff Community Church and the community choir have been beautifying and maintaining the Parihaka Memorial and immediately surrounding area within Dunedin’s Northern Cemetery. This on-going work, which involves new plantings, weeding and tree-trimming, is undertaken in consultation with Dunedin City Council, Kāi Tahu, Papakāinga Trust (Taranaki) and the Heritage Rose Society.…

On 5 November 1881, about 1,600 government troops and cavalry entered the Taranaki village of Parihaka to arrest its leaders and many of its men. Homes and crops were destroyed; 1,600 Parihaka residents were eventually evicted and dispersed across Taranaki without food or shelter; and some women were hurt. Within a few weeks, a once-thriving,…