Local historians write Battle of Gate Pa book

Buddy Mikaere and Cliff Simons.

Dr Cliff Simons, a military historian, has joined forces with Buddy Mikaere to write a book about the Battle of Gate Pa which took place on April 29, 1864.

Of Ngati Pukenga and Ngati Ranginui descent, Buddy has been writing extensively on Maori history. He recently spoke at the commemorative 60 Bells Service held at St George's Anglican Church on April 29 on how the Battle of Gate Pa has affected his own family.

'My chapters will be covering the lead-up to the battle,” says Buddy. 'Then I change over and follow the course of the Waikato Wars in one chapter. This gives the background to why the troops ended up in Tauranga, and why the battle took place.

'Cliff and I will be both be writing personal essays to include in the book. He'll be writing the chapters that cover the battle itself, and I'll write about the aftermath of it.”

The book, titled ‘Victory at Gate Pa?' will be published by New Holland Publishers and is due to be launched on October 28, coinciding with the national day of remembrance for the New Zealand Wars.

You may also like....

5 comments

Historians?

Posted on 05-06-2018 08:37 | By Crash test dummies

But what then is the "real" story of Gate Pa, not as this pair will write that si for sure.


Interesting times

Posted on 05-06-2018 10:23 | By maildrop

The 19th century had more wars than you can shake a stick at. The British empire was involved in so many it barely registers. The Napoleonic Wars involved heaps of countries and empires and sides flip flopped on a whim. Nobody talks about those now. You win some, you lose some, you move on.


Covered

Posted on 05-06-2018 11:08 | By overit

I would have thought by now, 153 years later, it would have already been covered by a Historian.


What NEW evidence will they reveal?

Posted on 05-06-2018 14:47 | By Captain Sensible

What new evidence will they reveal....or will it just be their opinions that will be passed off as "facts"?


Local Historians??

Posted on 11-06-2018 18:04 | By Crash test dummies

WOW, wonder who decided that? Must have been an echo resonating around the "Boy-cave" when dreaming up something desireous of doing.... Oh I know lets re-write history again.


Leave a Comment


You must be logged in to make a comment.