Two years prior to Hoyte completing this magnificent watercolour Maori resistance leader Te Kooti visited Lake Waikaremoana. Government forces had made an exploratory expedition into the lake area earlier in 1869. Military redoubts were established in the area in the 1870s, but by then Te Kooti had moved on. This watercolour depicts the government military camp in the foreground and Maori villages across the other side of the lake.