A day of unity
Full Waitangi coverage
Tens of thousands of people packed Waitangi yesterday for a day of ceremony, culture, music, kai and scorching sunshine marking the 179th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty.
As in the previous few years, the atmosphere was more like a family festival than the charged, protestdominated Waitangi Days of old. The only protest of note was a h¯ıkoi aiming to draw attention to pollution of the Hokianga Harbour.
The day began before sunrise with the traditional dawn ceremony, which drew an estimated 1000 people to Te Whare Ru¯ nanga, the carved meeting house on the upper Treaty grounds.
Those early risers were rewarded with a breakfast cooked by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her ministers.
Ardern cancelled her planned walkabout with the waka crews — a display involving hundreds of chanting kaihoe (waka paddlers) is always one of the highlights of Waitangi Day — and headed back to her hotel instead.
At least 11 waka, including a waka hourua, or double-hulled voyaging canoe, took part in this year’s display. The waka landed about 9.30am in front of Te Tii Marae for a blessing and karakia.
Nga¯tokimatawhaorua, the great waka that easily seats a crew of 80, did not take part this year, staying in its shelter at the Treaty Grounds.
One of the things that made this year’s festivities different was the atmosphere of devotion, even religious fervour, brought by Brian Tamaki’s followers, especially to the grounds of Te Tii Marae.
Tamaki claimed 2000 members of his Tu Tangata Man Up movement travelled to Waitangi; a 10am sermon he led in a marquee next to the marae drew a crowd of at least 1000.
His gathering took place at the same time as the official Waitangi Day service up the hill at the Treaty Grounds, led by Anglican Bishop Te Kitohi Pikaahu with a sermon by NZ First MP Shane Jones, which drew about 300 people.
The double-up had been touted as “the Battle of the Bishops”.
Tamaki used his sermon, which was punctuated with cheers and applause, to hint at a possible foray into politics by his movement.
His followers were everywhere at Waitangi yesterday — leading a hundreds-strong “peace h¯ıkoi” to the flagpole at 9am, greeting the waka paddlers with a haka on the beach, and rumbling up and down the waterfront on their motorcycles.
Later, the once-traditional land rights h¯ıkoi was replaced by a small but vocal march of about 100 people protesting degradation of the Hokianga Harbour and calling for better sewage treatment.
At noon, after a concert by the Royal NZ Navy Band, a 21-gun salute by the HMNZS Wellington echoed across the Bay while a Seasprite helicopter flew over the Treaty Grounds.
That was also the signal the day’s formalities had ended and it was time for entertainment. Bands, solo artists and kapa haka groups performed on four stages — at the Upper Treaty Grounds, Waitangi sport fields, Hobson’s Bay, and next to Te Tii Marae — until just after 7pm.
Festival-goers also enjoyed three sprawling market areas offering kai, crafts and information, while kids performed bombs off the bridge.
Talks and panel discussions were
held in the marae forum tent. Yesterday’s speakers included Tautoko FM founder Cyril Chapman, Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson and Mana Party founder Hone Harawira.
When a TV reporter at Waitangi asked Jacinda Ardern, James Shaw and Kelvin Davis what Article 1 of the Treaty said, all three were thrown by the question. Even allowing for the fact they were not expecting it, their difficulty was astonishing. New Zealand history might not have been well taught to previous generations in our schools but it gave attentive pupils the terms of a Treaty that is fairly concise by the standards of historic documents.
Its first article, of course, confers on the Crown the right to govern New Zealand. If that is called a transfer of sovereignty it becomes contentious, which is no doubt why the question was put to the Government leaders at Waitangi and was possibly also the reason they stumbled over it. But it is surprising any of them needed assistance.
It might be a reflection of how little history has been taught in schools for a long time now. It might also reflect a wider change in education. Knowledge is said to be no longer something taught to children in schools but something they discover for themselves with guidance. Does that mean generations now in government no longer carry a working knowledge of the Treaty in their heads?
Surely not. Yet it was agreed by all parties at Waitangi that schools need to teach the Treaty in its historical context, so presumably they have not been doing so.
An association of history teachers has launched a petition seeking legislation to require “the coherent teaching of our own past
. . .”. Their chairman, Graeme Ball, said no one knows precisely how much colonial history is being taught in schools because it is not a requirement of the curriculum.
The Prime Minister, who was at secondary school in the 1990s, says she was taught about our colonial history and believes there is a public expectation it is being taught in schools. She is right about that. National leader Simon Bridges wants our history taught in a “balanced” way. Former leader Don Brash, also at Waitangi this week, believes the scale of inter-tribal warfare before 1840 should be part of an understanding of the context of the Treaty.
Colonial history as previously taught has undergone substantial revisions for settlements of Treaty grievances over the past 30 years. That phase is nearing an end and it ought now to be possible to find a balanced history for teaching in schools. — NZME