A family fight

My daughter has Maori ancestors on her father's side and we went to a spot called Onawe in Banks Peninsula on Sunday where many years ago there was some fighting between two tribes, both of which my daughter descends from.


View Larger MapWe'd been there once before and read about one particularly violent incident by the inhabitants of the spot we visited which was so nasty that I won't repeat it here - after I read it I could not get the particularly gruesome images from my mind. It is summarised here:
"In 1830 an English trader, Captain Stewart, and his crew on the brig Elizabeth exchanged a cargo of flax for transport to Akaroa for a party of North Island warriors led by the warlike chief, Te Rauparaha. The result of this action was terrible suffering for the Ngai Tahu. The local Maori were armed with traditional weapons which were no match for Te Rauparaha's muskets. Villages were destroyed, people killed and their chief captured. The Onawe Peninsula at the head of the harbour was the site of a fierce battle in 1832. Te Rauparaha won that battle but allied South Island forces stopped his further advance in the South Island."
Interestingly, down the track, there are many people alive today who are descendents of the two tribes who were fighting.
I wonder if countries at war today can imagine that in the future they could have common descendents. Would it change things perhaps?
Onawe today: