The pale lens of NZ history
In the hills and valleys of New Zealand, sometimes our history falls out of the spotlight.
Artist Sally Burton delved into a relatively little-known moment of New Zealand history, the Wairau Incident, and learned about misdeeds on both sides of the conflict.
What came out of that her research was Pale History, an exhibition opening this weekend at Pa¯ taka Art + Museum in Porirua.
‘‘I started using that word [Pale] because I thought it was like white-washing history,’’ she said.
Pale History takes a look at an 1843 clash over double dealings and land rights in Marlborough’s Wairau Valley.
Often called the Wairau Incident – although Burton prefers the Wairau Tragedy – the fight between New Zealand Company settlers and Ma¯ ori was one of the first significant armed conflicts after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.
Twenty-two Europeans and four Ma¯ ori were killed in the clash.
‘‘It’s a tale as old as time,a fight for land and power,’’ Burton said. ‘‘There’s nothing much that has changed really.
‘‘I suddenly realised how we looked at history and took off the rose-coloured glasses.’’
For Burton, the tragedy started at one point: a 23-year-old surveyor named John Cotterell.
‘‘This virtuous little Quaker and pacifist, he came to do good works and ended up triggering this thing,’’ she said.
It was Cotterell’s report as a New Zealand Company surveyor that set events in motion, leading to the clash on June 17, 1843.
Burton created 10 Ma¯ ori and Pa¯ keha¯ figures as part of the exhibition, scavenging driftwood from the shores near her Nelson home and working with tapa cloth.
Each figure represents a person embroiled in the tragedy: from the European settlers to Te Rongo, the wife of Nga¯ ti Toa chief Te Rangihaeta.
The Ma¯ ori figures were painstakingly made with the help of portraits done at the time by Isaac Coates, and for the Pa¯ keha involved, Burton had old photographs and paintings to work off.
Pale History opens at Pa¯ taka Art + Museum in Porirua on Sunday and runs until March.