The Puketapu Cross Memorial marks the site where Puketapu chief Rāwiri Waiaua and 26 of his "friendly" followers were ambushed in August 1854 by a group of men from the same hapū opposed to land sales to Pākehā, led by Waitere Katatore. Four members of Waiaua's party were killed, including his brother Paora, and he himself died later of his wounds in the Colonial Hospital at Te Hēnui, New Plymouth. Those killed were reportedly buried at this site and the event came to be known as the Puketapu Feud.
Located in Taumaha Reserve at 224 Corbett Road, Bell Block, the cross was initially erected in wood by William Henry Skinner and the Scenery Preservation Society between 1909 and 1911 but this concrete replacement was made in 1941.
Part of the original wooden cross is held in the collection of Puke Ariki Museum.
Inscription on crossarm:
He pou whakamahara ki a Rawiri Waiaua me ona hoa i hinga i ten[e]i takiwa i te 3 o nga ra o Akuhata 1854 a ratou e hapai ana i te mana o te kawanatanga.
[This is a memorial to Rawiri Waiaua and his tribesmen who died here on the 3rd of August 1854 while they were upholding the mana of the government]
Small plaque inscription on upright:
Erected / By / The NZ Govt.
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