Wiremu Tamihana Memorial, Matamata
Channel: Difficult Histories: The New Zealand Wars
Date: 2020-11-06

In the grounds of Firth Tower, near Matamata, sits a memorial to the great Ngāti Hauā rangatira Wiremu Tamihana.

Following the Waikato War, Tamihana strove for peace and reconciliation, at the same time seeking the return of the confiscated lands in full. Pākehā politicians ignored his pleas.

Worn out and depressed at his failure to obtain justice, the rangatira died on 27 December 1866, not far from the memorial later erected in his memory.