All week this week we feature tangata whenua writings to mark Waitangi Day. Today: Vincent O’Malley reviews a new history of the battle of Gate Pā. Head up Cameron Road, one of Tauranga’s main arterial routes, a few kilometres out of the city centre and you drive over one of New Zealand’s most important historical sites. … Read more
With government officials, community leaders and the Crown coming together on the day of commemoration for the New Zealand Wars, it could have been a time to examine the wounds of colonisation. Instead, everyone patted themselves on the back, writes Laura O’Connell Rapira. One hundred and eighty-three years ago, on October 28, northern rangatira signed He … Read more
As the second annual commemoration of the New Zealand Wars approaches, Green MP Gareth Hughes lays down a wero for his fellow MPs. On the walls of Parliament’s debating chamber hang 33 memorial plaques and wreaths commemorating battles where New Zealanders fought, from South Africa to Afghanistan. One is missing. There’s a wreath to the … Read more
Historian Vincent O’Malley conducted his own survey over the weekend on what people did and didn’t learn about New Zealand history at school. The results, no matter how unscientific, still paint a clear picture. By now many people know something of the story of the small-town petition from which big things grew. In December 2015 … Read more
The arguments for a national day to commemorate the New Zealand Wars are strong, but each iwi also has its own case for holding it on a separate date, writes RNZ’s Shannon Haunui-Thompson. Many believe that for a true process of education, reconciliation and healing, the larger national day has to prevail. Te Pūtake o … Read more
If someone pitched you the idea of using a contentious event in New Zealand history that resulted in land confiscations, hundreds of deaths and years of intergenerational trauma as a marketing idea, what would your response be? Down in Wellington at the Hurricanes rugby HQ, the answer was ‘great idea, go with it!’ Let’s examine … Read more
Carl Chenery appeals to other Pākehā to be courageous in commemorating the Land Wars and for peace in Waitara today. Courage is turning towards hard truth, not turning away. The same goes for our colonial story here in Aotearoa. On 28 October, just a month after our elections, we will see the first national commemoration … Read more