On the theme of Pā, a remarkable example exists that saw action in the last battle of the Northern war in 1875. In Towai, Northland sits Ruapekapeka. The internal structure of the complex (as shown by the aerial dated to 1965) hosts a warren of spaced rifle pits, bomb shelters, and deep pits (which would have been roofed over with timber and earth). The pā is quite an engineering achievement, illustrating a pā suited to combat against the musket. It further faced heavy bombardment by the British. Colonel Henry Despard’s guns battered the site, an arsenal which hosted a cannonade of huge 32-pounders, a lighter 18-pounder, several 12-pounder howitzers and Congreve rockets. This barrage rocked the defences and eventually breached the heavy wooden palisade of 7-m puriri trunks embedded almost 3m in the ground. Source: The photograph dates to 1965 and was sourced from http:/restrolens.nz and licensed by LINZ subject to attribution CC-BY 3.0 #aerial #aerialimage #history #heritage #aerialphotography #archaeology #newzealand #aotearoa #ruapekapeka #towai #nzarchaeology #pacificarchaeology #nzlandwars #nzhistory (at Ruapekapeka)
