Māhia battle features in third series of Kairakau

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

The battle of Kaiuku at Māhia features in the third season of Kairakau, which begins  on Thursday at 9pm on Whakaata Māori and MĀORI+.

The series is described as “bringing to life the incredible stories of devastation, loss and hope that accompanied the arrival of the musket to the shores of Aotearoa”.

Lara Northcroft of Velvet Stone Media says the new series is based on true events that would later become known as the Musket Wars.

“The arrival of the musket saw the birth of a new kind of ‘kairākau’ — those who found a way to acquire and master the ‘pū hoata’ (musket),” says Lara.

“We portray the decades-long battle of Te Roto-a-Tara, the battle of Kaiuku at Māhia, the battle of Mokoia Island in Rotorua, and others from the early 1820s through to the mid-1830s.

“The subsequent arms race fed a devastating indigenous civil war that would have enduring consequences, far beyond what anyone could imagine at the time.

“But within these tragic tales of death and destruction there remains an enduring sense of hope, strength, tenacity, courage, and love.”

The drama series is a story of the continuation of whakapapa, “of a Māori world view, personified through   our main characters — our real life ancestor, and Kairākau in their own right.”