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Russell (Kororāreka)

Kororāreka, now Russell, on the Bay of Islands grew in the early 1800s into a busy whaling and trading port beside a Ngāpuhi settlement. Christ Church, built in 1835, is the oldest surviving church in New Zealand. On 11 March 1845, in the Flagstaff War, Ngāpuhi fighters under Hōne Heke and Te Ruki Kawiti felled the British flagstaff above the town and attacked it; the garrison and settlers withdrew by sea and much of the town burned.

Dated events and their evidence

• 1835 CE mainstream
  Christ Church built by Gilbert Mair; oldest surviving church in New Zealand source
• 1840 CE mainstream
  Governor Hobson reads his proclamations at Christ Church on 30 January source
• 1844 CE mainstream
  Te Haratua cuts down the flagstaff on Maiki hill for the first time source
• 1845 CE mainstream
  Heke and Kawiti attack the town on 11 March; Christ Church is hit by gunfire source
• 2023 CE mainstream
  Geographic Board endorses renaming the town Kororāreka (declined in 2025) source

Where

35.2618° S, 174.1215° E

Sources

• https://www.heritage.org.nz/list-details/1/1
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell,_New_Zealand
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kor%C5%8Dr%C4%81reka

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