NZ Wars: The Stories of Ruapekapeka RNZ Te Ao Maori

Corey Dean Ringrose
24/10/1988
03/05/2023

2-The dead Living

The end of life can bring a chill
You may fear your god has no higher will

No final judgment, Not even a chance
to right the wrongs for your last final dance

Some may fear this empty fate
Your consciousness meeting its long awaited date

Nothing but ashes with dust left behind
others see hope
The blind leading the blind

You pass every moment rarely seizing the joys
Divided by two our boys with our toys

Your time is coming yours may seem to brief
They praise our love whilst we deny any relief

The echo starts on beyond the sky
The never ending sound of your mothers cry

Embrace the pain with sadness ,with fear,
be brave you say as you can not see clear

You stand there still as it shakes below
This Everlasting suffering with nothing to show

Her voice, so sweet as the innocent grow
Our Timing is perfect, as we let no one no.

Nowhere to run no where to hide, only a whisper with all of her might,
Our future together looking left not right
As the hearts in Love while your world fills with fright

A warning to you, with those you choose to sway,
The demon is hear and here to stay

So when you hear the deafening sound
Be ready for us as we all are

hellbound.

I have really enjoyed these history podcasts, unfortunately I listened to them back to front and trying to understand why governor grey ordered the war on Tainui. Nothing made sense until this podcast.
Also you forgot to have your pakeha side told in this podcast which was disappointing.
As you talk of ruapekapeka being one of the best and well fortified pa in Nz, yet you say it was built on the run?????
I say it was pre built therefor hone heke’s actions made sense as he wanted to draw the soldiers in to a trap. Where they could fight them in close range.
If this is the case and the English did storm ruapekpeka and it was a trap and they were slaughtered? What then would the nga poui kill the settlers and take back there land???
So was the land confiscation justified? The fact that you mentioned in other podcasts that there were younger chiefs from tainui and Taranaki iwi fighting there. Was it pre arranged by the new kingi tanga?
Therefore governor grey had every reason to attack tainui?

Remember the English soldiers were drunks disorganised and the general Brought his way in to power and hadn’t fought in 30years so it was now or never for the Māori.

Regards Geoff

This podcast and the other Radio NZ podcasts on the NZ Wars by William Ray and Mihingaarangi Forbes are extremely well done. Pulling together so many varied sources of information, they provide so many insights into the events leading up to and throughout the different NZ wars and thereby also highlight the severe long term economic, social and psychological impacts of these conflicts for Maori. It is heartbreaking to listen to what some human beings have and can do to other human beings.