RUSSELL, BAY OF ISLANDS. In the Bay of Islands, about four kilometres northeast of Russell, you will find Motuarohia Island. A small island of only two kilometres in length. Today, the island exists mostly as a tourist attraction, selling itself with promises of crystal clear waters, sandy beaches and stunning walking tracks. 

Although in 1841, when Aoeteroa was still in its infancy, the island which directly translates to ‘beloved island’ was more infamous than famous. Infamous, for it was the island at the centre of an incident, an event that one newspaper of the time described as a ‘most shocking and inhuman atrocity’.

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