Sealers' War

Sealers' War
	Part of Māori – European early contact
Date	1810–1821
Location	Southern South Island, New Zealand
Result	Peace treaty and coexistence
Belligerents
Māori	Sealers
Casualties and losses
>31	43

The Sealers' War (1810–1821) in southern New Zealand (then part of the Colony of New South Wales), also known as the "War of the Shirt", was a series of often indiscriminate attacks and reprisals between Māori and European sealers. Initially minor misunderstandings between the two peoples quickly led to armed conflict. This resulted in a period of mistrust and animosity between Māori and sealers fueling several conflicts, leading to the deaths of about 74 people and the burning of the village of Otakou on the Otago Peninsula. Records exist from both sides of the conflict but not from any impartial observers.^[1]^[2]

^ Robert McNab, Murihiku, Invercargill, NZ: 1907,p.263 for the suggestion the attacks arose from a supposedly treacherous nature of Māori.
^ The text of the Creed manuscript is reproduced in Peter Entwisle's, Taka: A Vignette Life of William Tucker 1784–1817,Dunedin, NZ: Port Daniel Press, 2005 as appendix vi, pp. 128–131. Charles Creed, MS papers, 1187/201, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, NZ.

[:0-1] Robert McNab, Murihiku, Invercargill, NZ: 1907,p.263 for the suggestion the attacks arose from a supposedly treacherous nature of Māori.

[:1-2] The text of the Creed manuscript is reproduced in Peter Entwisle's, Taka: A Vignette Life of William Tucker 1784–1817,Dunedin, NZ: Port Daniel Press, 2005 as appendix vi, pp. 128–131. Charles Creed, MS papers, 1187/201, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, NZ.

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