The ground shook and people had to cover their ears as replica fieldguns were fired at a military re-enactment of the Battle of Gate Pa on Saturday at the Tauranga Domain.
More than 100 spectators attended the 150 years' commemorations, with replicas of the same guns used in the 1864 battle being fired again.
Three blasts from two six-pounder Armstrong fieldguns and five 12-pounder Coehorn mortars were fired throughout the day, from 10am to 2pm.
The replicas were built for the New Zealand-made film Utu Redux and one of the fieldguns and one mortar were now displayed in the ANZ Bank in Greerton.
NZ Armed Constabulary Re-enactment Unit commandant John Osborne said the Armstrong guns were brought to the battlefield on April 28, 1864, and set up in a battery with Coehorn mortars at a range of 350 yards (320 metres). The six-pounder guns supported an all-day artillery barrage of the pa site, lasting most of April 29.