Moutoa Gardens
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Moutoa Gardens, also known as Pakaitore, is a park in the city of Wanganui, New Zealand. Named after the Battle of Moutua Island in the Second Taranaki War. It contains a memorial to the battle inscribed “To the memory of the brave men who fell at Moutoa, 14 May 1864, in defence of law and order against fanaticism and barbarism” and also contained a statue of John Ballance, organiser of a volunteer cavalry troop in Titokowaru's War and later Premier of New Zealand.
The park was occupied for 79 days in 1995 in protest over a Treaty of Waitangi claim, an action which split the town and the nation. Local iwi claim the site was the location of a pa and trading site, left to Māori in the 1848 sale of Wanganui. During the protest, the statue of Ballance was beheaded and is yet to be replaced.
