A happy face for Waitangi Day

FROM Bluff to Queenstown and Dunedin, a Waitangi Day for everyone was celebrated as the sun shone on Saturday.

The Ngai Tahu Treaty Festival 2021 was hosted by Awarua Runaka at Te Rau Aroha Marae in Awarua.

While the focus of the day was officially on freshwater, Waihopai Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu representative Michael Skerrett said on Waitangi Day it was important to celebrate community and the treaty partnership.

‘‘It is a celebration day for all New Zealanders,’’ he said.

Waitangi Day celebrations in Queenstown this year were a multicultural affair.

Cultural groups performing included the Queenstown and Southern Lakes Pipe Band, accompanied by Irish dancers; the Indonesian community, who performed using the angklung, made using bamboo tubes and string; and members of Pasion Salsa.

Hundreds gathered in Earnslaw Park to take in the entertainment, which began with Cory Ratahi's waiata group, Waiatatia.

Along with waiata, Mr Ratahi spoke about the history of the

Treaty of Waitangi and the legend of Hakitekura, who became the first woman to swim across Lake Wakatipu.

In Dunedin, Molly Devine sang the New Zealand national anthem at a lowkey celebration of Waitangi Day in the Octagon on Saturday morning.

Dunedin deputy mayor Christine Garey said she believed the first people to arrive in Dunedin hundreds of years ago came for the same reason every settler had thereafter — ‘‘to find paradise’’.

In the crowd, retired Anglican priest Wiremu Quedley, of Dunedin, reflected on the changed focus of Waitangi Day and the improved partnership.

Fr Quedley said two or three decades ago, protest flags flew from the buildings around the Octagon on Waitangi Day.

‘‘Today is a day of celebration of who we are as a people of many cultures within this land,’’ he said on Saturday.

At the weekend, he celebrated his own Ngati Hau and British descent after his own forebears fought each other generations ago.

On his father’s side, his predecessor arrived in New Zealand as a redcoat and fought his tupuna on the other side in Waikato, he said.

‘‘Things have moved on,’’ Fr Quedley said. ‘‘It’s taken years.’’

❛ Today is a day of celebration of who we are as a people of many

cultures within this land

PHOTO: LUISA GIRAO Everleigh Svensson (1), of Tokanui, was among those gathered at Te Rau Aroha Marae in Awarua (Bluff) to mark Waitangi Day on Saturday.

PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON Unity . . . Wiremu Quedley, of Dunedin, celebrates his Ngati Hau and British descent at a lowkey celebration of Waitangi Day in the Octagon on Saturday morning.

PHOTO: TRACEY ROXBURGH Celebrating . . . Otago regional councillor Alexa Forbes (second from left), of Queenstown, performs with waiata group, Waiatatia, during Saturday's Waitangi Day celebrations in Queenstown. With Cr Forbes are (from left) Lisa Counsell, Wayne Bennison and Kathleen Brentwood, all of Queenstown.

PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON Stand up . . . Dunedin musician Molly Devine sings the New Zealand national anthem at a celebration of Waitangi Day in the Octagon on Saturday morning.