Monday, September 15, 2008

Sentries


Sentries
Originally uploaded by borealnz
Just north of Dunedin at Purakanui is the site of a Maori pa or fortified village known as Mapoutahi. The pa was sited on a small jutting peninsula just to the north of the Purakanui inlet. It has steep cliffs on all the seaward sides and is only accessible by a steep narrow track less than a metre wide which made it very easy to defend.

In the 18th century this lovely place was the site of a massacre. A chief named Taoka or Taonga came south from Timaru looking for revenge after the death of his son. They first laid siege (for 12 months) to Karitane pa, a few kilometres to the north but didn't gain entrance, so they turned their attentions to Mapoutahi, where after a siege of about 10 days Taoka and his warriors finally gained entrance and 250 people were killed, only one or two escaped by throwing themselves into the sea.

Today it is a peaceful place with a panoramic view of the area with little to remind you of bloodshed that occurred there.

Read the full story of the massacre Here

3 comments:

paulgrand said...

What a terrible history. O_O
Love the retro colouring of the illustration!

Anonymous said...

What a peaceful place... I love the processing of your shot - and those shadows are beautiful!
I hadn't known of the bloody history, thanks for describing it, we really do have an incredible history than few of us know about!

feasting-on-pixels (terrie) said...

What a stunning place, even with its bloody past.
I could pass many, many hours here , just taking in the beauty...
Your capture is amazing, Jill, as usual.
Merci for sharing this image and the history.