Extracts from a Diary Kept by the Rev. R. Burrows during Heke’s War in the North, in 1845

Description

A star onlooker chronicle of the purported Flagstaff War, waged war among Maori warriors, headed by Hone Heke, and British troops from March 1845 to January 1846 in and surrounding the Bay of Islands. Apparently initiated by the expurgated of the flagstaff above Kororareka – today known as Russell, Heke’s assault on the village was a result of rankling tribulations after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and take-over of New Zealand by the British Crown in 1840. The Reverend Robert Burrows had control of the mission post and learning institution at Waimate, upcountry from the Bay of Islands. His daily chronicle sketches a colorful portrait of the struggle, in which his designated role was to intercede among the two parties.

The signing of the Treaty of Waitangi begun on 6 February 1840, and struggled among the Crown and Māori tribes was to some degree unavoidable after that. Apparently, the treaty founded the lawful grounds for the British emergence in New Zealand. Although, the whereabouts of Hōne Heke and Te Ruki Kawiti in 1844 reveal the polemic that started right after the treaty was signed, beyond its definition and the understanding of the Māori parties as to whether they aimed to pass on sovereignty to the Crown or whether they understood the meaning of the treaty was to uphold the independence of the Māori people, while relinquishing to the Crown the authority beyond the subjects defined in the Maori rendition of the treaty. A polemic remains into the 21st century as the Waitangi Tribunal, in Te Paparahi o te Raki query – Wai 1040 – is involved in the method of deliberating the Māori and Crown understandings of the Declaration of Independence of 1835 and the Treaty of Waitangi of 1840.
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