The Wairau Affray

‘I rather anticipate some difficulty with the Natives’... Captain Arthur Wakefield in a letter to his brother Edward Gibbon Wakefield, concerning the Wairau.

A staged reading of a play in development, about the ill-fated attempt by Nelson Colonists to confront Te Rauparaha and a party of his men at Tuamarina in 1843, in a dispute over ownership of the Wairau. The first major armed clash between Maori and Pakeha in New Zealand, and a pivotal point in Nelson’s early history, and indeed New Zealand race relations. With public Q and A afterwards. Play written by Justin Eade, directed by Giles Burton, Featuring Cameron West, Nick Kemplen and Matt Lattin.