On the 3rd of February Dame Patsy attended the unveiling ceremony of a memorial for the 12 British soldiers, sailors and Royal Marines killed at the Battle of Te Ruapekapeka in 1846. The battle was the final of the Northern Wars, fought between around 400 Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Hine warriors against 1600 British armed forces.
The commemoration ceremony, also attended by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and British High Commissioner Laura Clarke, took place on the site where the British troops camped 175 years ago and where the British who fell were buried in a mass grave. The grave was rediscovered in 2017 after an archaeological dig set out to find the missing soldiers.
Those with keen eyes could look up to the Pā at the top of the hill and see where the innovative earthworks and shelters constructed by the 400 Maori defenders shape the landscape to this day.
The commemoration acknowledged all those who fought at Te Ruapekapeka and the different perspectives of the events of that day.
He Rua Whakautu mo te Riri - In remembrance of the Conflict
To learn more about the Battle of Te Ruapekapeka, please visit https://www.ruapekapeka.co.nz/
