The New Zealand Wars 2 - Kings and Empires (Episode Two)

In this excerpt from James Belich's award-winning history of Māori vs Pākehā armed conflict, tensions simmer in 1850s Taranaki and Waikato, between land-hungry settlers and Māori who don't want to sell. This resolve to retain their land results in what Belich calls "one of the most important developments in Māori political history" — the birth of the King Movement. But a new governor determined to reassert British authority exploits disunity between Māori factions, and a disputed sale at Waitara culminates in "New Zealand's great civil war of the 1860s".

Both races already form one harmonious community — professing the same faith, resorting to the same courts of justice, connected together by the same commercial and agricultural pursuits, enjoying the same public sports.

– An overly optimistic Governor Grey

Key Cast & Crew

Tainui Stephens

Director

Colin McRae

Producer

James Belich

Writer, Presenter

Whirimako Black

Composer

Billy Kristian

Composer

Tom Finlayson

Network Executive