The 18th Royal Irish Regiment arrived in New Zealand days before the invasion of Waikato began in July 1863 and was the last regiment to leave the country in February 1870. Irishmen were also scattered throughout the ranks of many of the other regiments that came to New Zealand. Incredibly, it has been estimated that around two-thirds of the rank and file troops who served in the New Zealand Wars were Irish. At that level, it was almost the Irish Army, rather than the British Army.
What did these Irishmen think of fighting a war of conquest for the very same Crown that had dispossessed them? And could they see the parallels with the history of their own country? In this latest video, Vincent O’Malley visits St John’s Church in Drury, South Auckland, where a memorial to a number of men from the 18th Regiment was unveiled in 2012.
