The South Island, with its low Māori…

The South Island, with its low Māori population, had been generally peaceful while the the Land Wars convulsed the North Island.

Gold had been discovered at Gabriel's Gully in Central Otago, sparking a gold rush, n 1861.

Dunedin had become the wealthiest city in the country and many in the South Island resented financing the North Island’s wars.

Parliament had defeated a proposal in 1865, to make the South Island independent by seventeen to thirty-one.