When some pointy headed colleague dropped this little
beauty into the discussion some years ago, I thought he was just trying to
demonstrate to the gathering that he was indeed worthy of sharing the air with
female knights of the realm (we still call them Dames over here) and other high
flyers ranging downwards to lesser mortals like myself.
Actually, I knew instinctively that he wasn't
interested in impressing me but it none-the-less caused a few eyeballs to
roll amongst those of us who didn't have a clue what he was talking about.
For all our faults, my kind are still able to
recognize someone with a dodgy agenda. We have learned our trade in the
"School of Hard Knocks" where there is no place for those who feel just
that little bit superior.
Anyway, we soon found out that this long winded
utterance was being put forward as the perfect sixteen letter word to describe
the 2019 commemoration of the 250th anniversary of James Cook's first meeting
with local Iwi on the shore of Poverty Bay in 1769.
I need to mention that the inaugural committee also
sensibly included an aspect of our multi cultural heritage by adding an
appropriate bit of Te Reo to round off the title.
Preceded by much fanfare, we announced to the world
that the name of these New Zealand wide celebrations would be "The Te Ha
Sestercentennial Commemorations".
For those of you who don't already know, the words
"Te Ha" is Maori for "the sharing of breath" which in turn
is more commonly referred to as a "hongi".
So, having got that out of the way, as a forty year
resident of the East Coast, I can proceed by giving readers my take on the
value of these events, particularly for all those Kiwis who aren't really sure
what this iconic part of our heritage should mean for us all. In my opinion,
they have had good reason to be confused about this most important month from
the timeline of our nation's history. There has been so much misinformation
masquerading as fact out there, it has been difficult to know what to believe.
I must say that the accuracy of the recordings of
Cook's first landing and the subsequent encounters with Iwi groups at other
meetings around the nation's coastline
will depend on the source of the information being presented.
Because there has
been so much deliberate distortion of the truth related to this initial
engagement between Maori and those of European decent, I was initially
skeptical as to the worth of staging the celebrations at all.
I have since changed my mind and am now a somewhat
reluctant supporter of the exercise but my support is a qualified one.
I now see it as an opportunity to take back our
heritage from the revisionists and set the record straight once and for all.
Although I originally had misgivings about the personal agendas of some of
those charged with organizing the event, I have now seen enough evidence to
suggest that most of us are on the same page regarding the script of the story
we want to tell. And boy is it an amazing tale. You couldn't make it up.
You see, I am of the opinion that in a world aflame
with problems associated with race relations in just about every country you
care to name, our formula for settling our differences stands out like a beacon
and is light years ahead of any other country's efforts trying to achieve the
same results. Therefore it should come as no surprise to find that our country
is and will be a huge attraction for all those struggling to find answers to
their own difficulties.
It follows that, if our international marketing of
this event is as good as the early indications suggest, we should be inundated
with inquisitive visitors salivating at the prospect of learning how we have
progressed and succeeded this far.
However, in the end, proof of how well we have done
will be in the success of the multi faceted displays and commemorative sites in
providing an accurate account of this incredible tale of betrayal, wars between
the indigenous people and the colonial forces, land confiscation, unauthorised
land purchases, legitimate crown acquisition of large tracts of Maori owned
land, legitimate grievances, acknowledgement of the Crown's breaches of its
Treaty of Waitangi commitments, forgiveness, reconciliation and
compensation.
It is a remarkable story that is without parallel
anywhere in the world.
It is also a record of unequalled cooperation between two
races who have worked, fought and died together in pursuit of a common goal.
There is really only one responsibility left for this and
future generations to fulfil.
It is simply to honour the memory of our tupuna who left
us such a wonderful legacy.
We can only do that by building on the contributions our
ancestors made in pursuit of a nation of equal opportunity for all.
Surely, we are up to that challenge.
The visitors to this country for the commemorations next
year will be watching us long after returning home to see if our commitments
made to a shared future are real or just so much hot air.
I'd like to think that they will not be disappointed. The
ball is in our court.
Clive Bibby is a commentator, consultant, farmer and
community leader, who lives in Tolaga Bay.
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