Waikato - The Forgotten War Anniversary?
New Zealand is gearing up to commemorate a number of significant anniversaries concerning our involvement in foreign wars over the next few years – the centenary of the outbreak of World War One next year, Gallipoli on 25 April 2015 and so on through to 1918. But does that willingness to commemorate wars extend to those fought closer to home? The Lottery Grants Board has set aside $17 million to mark the World War One centenary in a multitude of ways. There are websites, a major new multi-volume history of New Zealand’s involvement in the war, memorials, the usual raft of ministers and dignitaries visiting Gallipoli and elsewhere, besides a range of community initiatives and projects. On 12 July this year it will be the 150th anniversary of the invasion of Waikato, a conflict rightly described by Alan Ward as the ‘climactic event in New Zealand race relations’ history. Waikato was the largest and most significant of the New Zealand Wars fought between 1845 and 1872. British victo...