WarAtlasOpen in the atlas →

Significant1864

Battle of Ōrākau

Ōrākau · Waikato · New Zealand

Estimated casualties

130 – 180estimated dead

Up to about 160 Māori were killed, most during the breakout, plus 17 British regulars dead and 51 wounded. It was the single greatest loss of life of the wars.

SOURCENZ History / Te Ara battle tallies

Fought over three days in late March and early April 1864, the final major battle of the Waikato campaign, in which a heavily outnumbered Māori garrison made a defiant stand and breakout. It is the best-known engagement of the New Zealand Wars and inspired the films 'Rewi's Last Stand.'

Belligerents2

  • Kīngitanga (Māori King Movement)
  • British Empire and colonial forces

Conflict graph

PART OFInvasion of the Waikato · New Zealand Land Wars

Sources

  1. Wikipedia: Battle of Ōrākau
  2. Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand: Waikato War major battles
  3. Wikipedia — text reused under CC BY-SA 4.0

Open in the atlas →Seeks the timeline to 1864 and opens this record.

38.07°S · 175.42°E · 1864WARS-ATLAS / CONFLICT / BATTLE-OF-ORAKAU

Cite as: Battle of Ōrākau (1864). War Atlas. https://waratlas.org/c/battle-of-orakau · Sources & methodology