NZ Wars - Stories of Tainui

Web (Full Length Episode) – 2021

He mamae...
– Tainui-affliated presenter Mihingarangi Forbes expresses grief for what happened to her ancestors

E hoa, ka whawhai tonu mātou, Āke! Āke! Āke! Friend, we will fight on forever, forever and forever!
– Rewi Maniapoto's famous broadside to British troops at the Battle of Ōrākau

Even in death there seems to be a disparity in the way that people are remembered and commemorated.
– Vincent O'Malley on the unmarked grave for Māori who died in the Rangiriri conflict

Governor Grey served two terms as Governor. On his first tour of duty he actually learnt to speak Māori, he got on with Pōtatau and they had a wonderful relationship actually, so much so that Governor Grey asked Te Wherowhero...to become the protectorate of Auckland.
– Iwi historian Rahui Papa on the initial relationship between Governor Grey and Pōtatau Te Wherowhero

Chris Pugsley estimates that at least 160 of the pā’s occupants were killed, with women bayoneted as they lay wounded. Interpreter William Mair expressed his ‘disgust at the generally obscene and profane behaviour of the troops’. Attempts to justify these actions by claiming the women had dressed like men convinced few. British casualties over the three days of fighting were 17 dead and 50 wounded.
– Historian Chris Pugsley's take on the tragedy of Ōrākau, NZ History

This is the defining conflict in New Zealand history in my view, far more so than World War One and World War Two. For so long Gallipoli was kind of a focus and for Pākehā a sort of foundational narrative, for the nation, but really the invasion of Waikato in July 1863 is a decisive moment in New Zealand history. We live with the consequences of it today in so many ways.
– Historian Vincent O'Malley on the significance of what happened in Waikato

My belief is that New Zealanders are generally open to a bicultural narrative of how our nation was formed and will listen with both their ears and their hearts. The storytellers of Tainui have generously entrusted us with their stories in this documentary, many of which have not been told to a wider audience until today
– Presenter and creator of NZ Wars series Mihingarangi Forbes, Māori Television Press Release, 26 February 2021