Moutoa Island is an island of shingle approximately 500 metres long, eighty kilometres up the Whanganui River

Whanganui River

The Whanganui River is a major river in the North Island of New Zealand.Known for many years as the Wanganui River, the river's name reverted to Whanganui in 1991, according with the wishes of local iwi. Part of the reason was also to avoid confusion with the Wanganui River in the South Island...

, New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 between the towns of Ranana

Ranana

Rānana is a settlement 60 km from Whanganui along the Whanganui River. It was named by the missionary Richard Taylor in the 19th century and is a Maori transliteration of London....

 and Hiruharama

Jerusalem, New Zealand

Jerusalem was once an important kainga on the Whanganui River in New Zealand where a Roman Catholic mission was first established in 1854....

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Surrounded by rapids, it has been the site of many battles, the most famous being on the 14th May, 1864 between a force of Pai Marire

Pai Marire

The Pai Mārire movement was a syncretic Māori religion that flourished in New Zealand from about 1863 to 1874. Founded in Taranaki by the prophet Te Ua Haumene, it incorporated Biblical and Māori spiritual elements and promised its followers deliverance from Pākehā domination, providing a...

 followers from the upper Whanganui and the Ngati-Hau of the lower Whanganui during the Second Taranaki War

Second Taranaki War

-Background and causes of the war:The conflict in Taranaki had its roots in the First Taranaki War, which had ended in March 1861 with an uneasy truce. Neither side fulfilled the terms of the truce, leaving many of the issues unresolved...

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