The 175th anniversary of the battle of Kororāreka has been marked with a dawn service in Russell.
The battle was the first signal by Māori at the dissatisfaction over the state of affairs five years after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, in 1840.
The battle is commemorated every year in the Bay of Islands by local tangata whenua and the Kororāreka community.
Among other ministers this year, NZ First MP Shane Jones and Labour Minister Kelvin Davis attended and recited part of a waiata composed in the 1860s by the son of chiefs of the area at the time of the Treaty of Waitangi.
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