February 02, 2023
Battlefield church remembers act of aroha
A service was held this morning at St Michael’s Anglican Church near Kaikohe to acknowledge the sacrifice of Māori and British troops who died in the fields around the church during at the Battle of Ohaeawai in June 1845.
The service was attended by Government Minister, the British High Commissioner and Ngāti Rangi.
The Minister for Crown Maori Relations, Kelvin Davis, says the battle was a watershed moment in Aotearoa’s history.
The event also celebrated the generosity of British woman Charlotte Dorothea Weale, who helped a Māori party which was stranded in England in 1863.
To repay her generosity in helping them return home, the rangatira built a church on the Ohaeawai pā site.
The church and battleground have been restored by Ngati Rangi and the Ohaeawai Cultural Community Centre with help from $1.7 million through the Provincial Growth Fund.