Author(s): Barbara Francis

History | Aotearoa New Zealand Non-Fiction | Maori | Atuanui Press | Biography and Memoir

In November 1863 at the battle of Rangiriri, over 180 Māori defenders were taken prisoner. They were marched up the Great South Road to Ōtāhuhu, from where they were transferred onto the Waitematā Harbour. There they were held captive on the prison ship Marion for nearly eight months, supervised by their bilingual Pākehā Superintendent Titus Angus White, who was also sent to retrieve them after their subsequent escape from Kawau Island.

This book is the story of Titus Angus White and the men he ended up supervising as they were imprisoned only 600 metres off the Port of Auckland. It is also the wider story of the invasion of the Waikato and the circumstances that led to the establishment of New Zealand’s largest ever floating prison.

“This work navigates the colonial propaganda and attempts to provide an objective perspective on a tumultuous time in New Zealand history – Barbara Francis has been meticulous in collecting, collating and connecting information to produce a detailed narrative around the work and thinking of Titus Angus White.” – Dr Mike Ross, Ngāti Hauā.

Author Biography: Barbara Francis' previous book was: You Do Not Travel in China at the Full Moon, Agnes Moncrieff's Letters from China, 1930-1945, Te Herenga Waka University Press, 2017. That book was written as a result of winning the 2009 New Horizons for Women Trust Peg Hutchison Research Award. Barbara Francis has worked as a Museum Education Officer at the Dominion Museum in Wellington, teaching about the Maori Collection, and as a school teacher.