Dunedin service marks Parihaka reconciliation
PRAYERS for peace were offered in Dunedin yesterday to coincide with the reconciliation meeting between the Crown and the people of Parihaka in Taranaki.
The gathering was held at the Rongo Stone Memorial in Portsmouth Dr, which commemorates the 211 Maori prisoners transported to Dunedin between 1869 and 1879.
The prayer event was organised by the Dunedin meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, known as Quakers, to show their support for the people of Parihaka.
Quakers member Gregor Morgan said the event showed their ‘‘long association with the people of Parihaka’’.
Pupils from Bayfield High School also attended the event.
Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Chris Finlayson visited Parihaka yesterday to deliver a formal apology on behalf of the Crown for the sacking in 1881 when Parihaka was a centre for peaceful protest.
He said the events there were among the most shameful in the history of New Zealand.
‘‘Today, it is almost impossible to imagine any New Zealand government responding to the protests of its citizens by legislating away their right to a trial, legalising their continuing detention, or retrospectively legitimising the destruction of their homes and possessions,’’ he said.
The Crown’s failures included imprisoning 405 Parihaka residents, invading Parihaka in November 1881, forcibly evicting many people who had sought refuge there, dismantling and desecrating homes and sacred buildings, stealing heirlooms and systematically destroying cultivation and livestock.
The apology comes as part of a reconciliation settlement, including $9 million and assistance in development from Crown agencies and local councils.
Mr Finlayson was welcomed by the children of Parihaka, echoing the warm reception the 1600 armed Crown forces received in 1881.
Jeremy Simons from the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies said it was ‘‘not just reconciliation, but some sort of justice’’ for the people of Parihaka.
He said it was a story that needed to be shared as the history was not wellknown.
Seventyfour Maori prisoners were transported to Dunedin after an armed dispute in Pakakohe in south Taranaki in 1869. Eighteen of the prisoners were believed to have died and were buried in unmarked graves in the Northern Cemetery.
A further 137 prisoners from Parihaka were sent south in 1879. Three of these men died.
While in Dunedin, the men worked on projects such as the Andersons Bay causeway and building retaining walls around the harbour. — Additional reporting NZME