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The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Maori Campaigns and the Pioneering Period: Volume II: The Hauhau Wars, (1864–72)

Drawn from a photo, 1870] — The Orakau Blockhouse

Drawn from a photo, 1870] The Orakau Blockhouse

Drawn from a photo, 1870]
The Orakau Blockhouse

This blockhouse, erected in 1869 on the battlefield of Orakau (see Vol. 1, pages 365–407), was a type of numerous fortified posts established along the frontier. On the ground floor the building, constructed mostly of kahikatea, was about 16 feet by 20 feet, with a height of about 9 feet. The upper storey, 12 feet high, overlapped the lower one by about 3 feet all round. The walls were bullet-proof; the space between the outer wall and the lining was filled with gravel. The top storey was loopholed all round; the rifle-apertures, 6 inches by 2 inches, breast-high. There were no rifle-slits in the lower storey, but the palisading was loopholed at intervals of 5 feet. The palisade was 10 to 12 feet high; there was a space of about 6 feet between it and the building. In the front the palisading was double, with a traverse of timber covering the entrance. The front fence was nearly all tall manuka stakes, but the main palisading consisted of posts 10 or 12 inches in thickness; manuka timber was used to fill the interstices. At the rear of the blockhouse the bank was scarped perpendicularly about 7 feet as an additional protection.