This article examines a particular incident in the Waikato wars, 1863-4 and its relevance to the newly mandated New Zealand History curriculum. The new curriculum will for the first time make the teaching of local history compulsory in years 1-10. I examine the wide variety of submissions about the content of this curriculum. As the Royal Society's Expert Advisory Panel (2021, p. 20) responded, there is a recognition 'that History can hurt'. It is an opportunity to reject earlier stories of imperial nation-building and support the recovery of subjected, often unheard, voices from the community. I examine two perspectives of an 'incident' at Rangiaowhia, first from an historian's perspective, then, a rearticulated narrative of hapu, Te Apakura. I also examine two local retellings, where the indigenous perspectives are given voice. Unless the silence is broken, countries' past will be unaddressed and native peoples injuriously affected.