Why Celebrate Waitangi

“Waitangi is arguably the most powerful national symbol we have,” says Haare Williams who has seen changes occur during our collective and separate hikoi to and from that holy shrine.” 

“It’s business as usual. Welcome to Waitangi 2014”, a remark by Te Tii Marae elder, Kingi Taurua when, as the governor general walked past, a smart in the crowd yelled, “Cut his head off!” 

The usual suspects were there.  Titewhai Harawira arm linked with John Key and later with David Cunliffe.  No leader was safe without the tempest of Te Tii Marae especially on the 6 February.

Waitangi Day is a time once more to remind us as a nation of the hikoi we have shared on the road to and from Waitangi; a road sometimes pocked with muddied potholes.  We celebrate how far we have come. Our country has changed more than most realise.  It’s not just about recognition of Maori rights. Maori culture is today beginning to influence mainstream society.   Maori words and phrases are used meaningfully in common discourse. The powhiri to welcome a new start or new staff is now a part of corporate life in New Zealand. 

We have the opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with our nation’s history.  Certainly a time to rejoice that we have endured one hundred and seventy-four years of trial, challenge, and change. 

At the core of our society are two fundamental cultures; Maori and Pakeha who between them are now forging a third culture, one which embraces the principle of two cultures; Maori as the first settlers (Tangata Whenua) and Pakeha as second (Tangata Tiriti), who between them are creating an emerging new ‘New Zealand culture’, in which both tikanga Maori and tikanga Pakeha are respected, accepted, and protected for their separate but complimentary values. This hybrid culture recognizes Maori values and British traditions as embodied in the promise of Te Tiriti o Waitangi-The Treaty of Waitangi but flexible enough to allow later cultures such as Pacifica and other strands as we develop the increasingly rich diversity of a multicultural New Zealand. Now that’s something we can all celebrate.

Today we see signs to celebrate indications for me anyway, that reconciliation and forgiveness can occur and that in the work of the Waitangi Tribunal we can reconcile differences and pave the way for healing wounds, and past recriminations.

A cloudless, blisteringly hot day, Waitangi 6 February 1840. Some five hundred people are gathered before the British resident’s House. Royal Navy ship The Herald riding a swell ….   waka taua too … Hobson is escorted ashore.

Another cloudless, blue, blisteringly hot day, Waitangi 6 1990. The RNZN Ship The Canterbury riding a swell … waka taua … HM Queen Elizabeth II is escorted ashore …

One of the most moving statements about what the Treaty of Waitangi mean for Maori and for New Zealand came out of Waitangi in 1990.  The Anglican Bishop of Aotearoa, Rt Rev Whakahuihui Vercoe made a short speech which was directed at the Queen who was present with government members.  He began with psalm 137, with ‘Waitangi’ replacing ‘Babylon’ of the original:

I te taha o nga wai o Waitangi, noho ana tatau i reira

A, e tangi ana tatau kia mahara ki a Hiro

When he stepped up, the level of protest went up too,“… and so I come to the waters of Waitangi to weep for what could have been a unique document in the history of indigenous people against Pakeha domination and I still have the hope that we can do it.  Let us sit and listen to one another.  Some of us come here to celebrate, some to commemorate, some come to commiserate, but some to remember what (pause) … our tipuna said on this ground: that the treaty was a compact between two people.  But since the signing, I want to remind our partners that you have marginalised us.  You have not honoured the treaty.  We have not honoured each other in the promises made.  Vercoe spoke with utter sincerity, conviction and humanity.  The content of the speech was unexpected.  At the end of the speech there was utter silence, the ultimate tribute by the protestors for Vercoe with varying emotions apparent on those present.  For some it was a reminder to understand the past and to meet the obligations set out in the treaty, while others were aghast that, yet again the ceremony at Waitangi had been politicised, at least as they saw it in the presence of the Queen. At the end of the speech, Te Aupouri kuia Sana Murray stood, clapped and sang everyone joined as one with, “By the waters of Babylon …”

How can we sing the songs of the Lord
while in a foreign land?

If I forget you, Jerusalem
   

We are today forging a richer nation as we continue the Hikoi to and from Waitangi.  Haere mai e hoa ma.

Rumus Thompson-Jackson

Haare Williams describes a chance meeting with a ‘street kaumatua’ as the illuminating shafts of light through the trees that shone across Grafton Gully on Waitangi Day 2014.   

Rumus at Grafton Gully Cemetery

It's Wednesday 13 February, seven days and 174 years on since Hobson witnessed the signing of the treaty at Waitangi.  It's a warm mid-summer, afternoon sun, a time to reflect our nation's history and future.  Yes, it’s that time again to celebrate our past as we place the foundations for a vibrant modern city and  future.

I came here to The Grafton Bridge Cemetery to honour probably the nation's most iconic figure in our short history; "Captain William Hobson, Lieutenant Governor, 1840-1842."  But I wasn't alone because as I turned, I was greeted by a calm and gravelly voice, "Ko Remus ahau - Remus Thompson-Jackson taku ingoa, no Tainui."  Surprised, but not unexpected.

We shared a short karakia with Hobson, then silence.  When he opened his eyes and mouth I was immediately drawn to the poet in him.  He told me of his whakapapa to Kukutai, a noble whanau of his Waiuku and Te Awhitu homelands, a descendant therefore of the thirty-two, the only signatories of the English version at Waiuku. A rare distinction.

In Auckland, the treaty was signed in five (or six) places, the first on 4 March 1840 at Karaka Bay along the shoreline between Tamaki River and Howick (Maraetai).  The last at Waiuku (near the Waikato Heads) on 11 April 1840 by thirty-two rangatira of Ngati Paoa, Ngati Maru, Ngati Tipa, Ngati Pou and Ngati Tamatera (possibly Ngai Tai and Ngati Te Ata) and countersigned by Captain Nia and missionaries Henry Williams and William Fairburn.

We were both meant to be here.  His face was engraved by layered narratives from the streets that he has walked and by his own admission, himself a street kid at seventy something.  His wiry beard framed a face that spoke with wit, a poetic vision and empathy.

He spoke on decorously, "Heke knew what these tauiwi (strangers) wanted; Land.  Heke and other rangatira wanted protection of their lands.  But they were spurred on by the spirit of building a new colony.  Te Apihai Te Kawau of Ngati Whatua wanted the same by giving a huge koha of land to build a city and the start of a new settlement."

"Don't forget." I said, "No I won't."

"Maori were sailors, whalers, boat builders, farmers, traders and business people.  You should know they beat them at their own game." He then took a long breath.

This is a waahi tapu, e hoa.  It needs tenderness and aroha.  It lacks that human touch."

"Pakeha people, they don't care for their mate (dead); nor about their tupuna (ancestors), and they talk without stop about love for te tai ao (the environment).  No!  We, Maori are the ones who suffered the cost of environmental damage; we're still paying the price.  Ae! Ko te tangata te utu mo te hara o te tangata."

"Ko to ratau atua ko te moni ke." Money.  That's the Pakeha god.  Just look at this place. It's nothing more than a toilet."

He spoke. I tried to edge a word.  He, as I was deeply shocked by the stressful look of Hobson's resting place in a forgotten nothingness.  A man revered then and now by Maori as a rangatira.

The site is littered with rubbish, some damaged headstones, a veritable rubbish dump, and unkempt trees hidden away so that the city without eyes, ears and or a heart cannot see.  His voice rises and falls, sometimes into a whisper.

"This 'Mighty-Big-Super-City Council', will it be the most liveable in the world.  What about the residents of this holy waahi tapu."

We were there for probably an hour, maybe more.  It seemed like an eternity.  Yet a crisp flash of wisdom from this luminary who has walked his city.  Before I left, he nudged me to recite a karakia and asked for “Whakaaria Mai” (Amazing Grace) for Hobson, this waahi tapu, for our youth and for the indifference of a city for those who rest here.

We embraced in a hongi, and as we parted I said, "Thank you your amazing grace." He nodded and smiled.

I looked back to wave and catch is eye, but he was sitting beside Hobson in an animated expressiveness and quite likely apologising for the sins and omissions of the great city he founded.  Again I saw a poet who did not lack nuance or faith in his words.  He struck me as angry, yes but rich, feisty and compassionate.  Hobson's remains lie here in a forgotten nothingness, where then is the noble patrimony of our church, state, local and communities leaders. 

I know I met a poet who sees a city desperate for happiness, a kind epiphany in his eyes and words denouncing an "... uncaring city."  Is this retribution for having the vision and courage to build Auckland?  No!  Remus Thompson-Jackson was a lonely voice for hope. We share William Hobson’s hope.

" He iwi kotahi tatau; we are one people."

  (Hobson Waitangi 6 February 1840)

Hei kona mai.