Stuff
reporter George Heagney signaled his and Stuff’s indignation at the organisers having
the audacity to do such a thing by describing them as a group, that had ‘organized
to hold a Settlers Day celebration, to celebrate its European heritage, without
any involvement of mana whenua Ngati Kauwhata’.
How dare
they?
Kimbolton has had many Settlers Days in the past that have not been controversial but the difference this time it seems was they were holding it on Waitangi Day, and according to Stuff and some Maori people quoted in Stuff’s story, that is inappropriate.
Because
Stuff had taken it upon themselves to turn a fun family day into a racial
conflict, the organisers agreed to change the date because they felt it would
be unsafe to go ahead on Waitangi Day. They
did not say whether the safety concerns and threat of disruption came from the
local Maori people who were so incensed that such a thing would occur on
Waitangi Day or whether it was from those in the community who were annoyed at having
their family community day on Waitangi Day ruined.
According
to the iwi the organisers acknowledged they got it wrong and realized they should
not have held it on Waitangi Day. Further they acknowledged they should not
have contemplated such a thing without the all-important iwi engagement. The
organisers have invited the iwi to be part of the rescheduled event and have
reaffirmed their commitment for both communities to work together for the
common good. It seems in Kimbolton they are not one community but two. The
Maori people are one community, and the rest of the people are the other. How
tragic is that?
The iwi is
pleased to be part of the rescheduled event and were keen to ‘find a pathway to
enable them and the organisers to work together and give meaningful expression
to that notion of partnership’. It seems anyone organizing a community event
these days must remember they have Maori partners.
The
organisers, after being ‘educated’ by the iwi, might have come to the
conclusion that holding a settlers day on Waitangi day is bad, but the more I
think about it the more I think what a good idea it was. In fact, I can think
of no better way to celebrate Waitangi Day. The one and only point of the
Treaty of Waitangi was to enable the settlement of New Zealand. The Treaty
enabled the European settlement of New Zealand. This European settlement brought
the skills and the capital to take unused land and turn it in to productive
farmland and to extract the resources from it to enable an undeveloped country
to become a first world country with all the trappings of that in less than a
century.
If there
could have been another pathway in 1840 for the Maori people of New Zealand to
become as prosperous as their descendants are now that did not involve
colonization or conquest I have not heard of it, and if there was such a
pathway, why is it that none of the third world countries in the world follow it
now?
The
settlers came to this country and endured incredible hardship to, by their
labour and their skill and their capital, make us one of the most prosperous
nations in the world. Surely that is what we should be celebrating on Waitangi
Day?
Celebrating
our European heritage on Waitangi Day will be more inclusive than what we have now
because it is something we can all be proud to celebrate. The Maori people in
New Zealand at the time the Treaty was signed benefited immensely from the settlement
it enabled, and while the Maori people that existed at the time are all gone,
their descendants, who are also descendants of the settlers, have as much
reason to celebrate New Zealand’s European heritage as anyone.
Waitangi
Day needs to be refocused to become a day when we celebrate the reason the
Treaty was drawn up in the first place; to enable the settlement of New Zealand. It should be a day when we celebrate what
those settlers to New Zealand did for us all and how it enables us all to now live
in a first world country where even the poorest among us whether Maori,
European or any other ethnicity, live a lifestyle that is the envy of most of
the world’s population. Settlers Day February 6th 2024, why not?
Robin Grieve, a tutor, orchardist and retired farmer, is Chairman of Pastural Farming Climate Research HERE.
9 comments:
Totally agree with date logic. Spells the beginning of the wealth which provides benefits and state houses. But I suspect the event will be ruined by long speeches in te reo in maori time, violent stone age haka etc. Kimbolton is a rather charming little settlement some distance from anywhere, and characteristic of a myriad similar, now mostly gone. If in the area at the time I will attend. Being obviusly pure white, for some personal protection I will wear my long jade green neck pendant (a plastic extended shoehorn). Sadly The event will be captured by out of town activists.
Of course your absolutely right Robin. If all the so called victim's of imperialism and colonization had any sense of integrity regarding a pre European way of life. Than they need to head for the bush and leave all they have benefited from behind.
Should make it a private event invitation-only then go ahead an have it whenever you like I would love to come
To about 1950 some rural maori lived relatively separated. This was largely due their living conditions; no running hotwater, longdrops etc. Work clothes worn constantly (pre track suits!). This explains the discrimination practised in agricultural Pukekohe for example. I can recall in Hawkes Bay at the time country houses with sacks for windows and naked children running about. As living standards inproved and maori were same as many others there has been general acceptance. But the antagonistic behaviour of maori in recent times is creating a return to the attitudes of the 1940s and before. Hence some maori communitiesagain are largel separated
What a fine idea!
Of course, it will not be considered appropriate.
For descendants of “the settlers” (who are also, as Robin points out, descendants of māori) are the majority.
And whereas the minority can do what it likes .. and celebrate whatever they like (and whether it accurately represents the past or not does not really matter) .. for the majority, it is a different story entirely.
Still, I do 100% support the concept.
The hapu involved, Ngati Kauwhata I believe, might consider themselves as settlers too, since they only migrated to the Manawatu from their homes in the upper Waikato a decade or so before 1840.
Previously I would have very little to do with Waitangi day. I was not at all accepting of the perennial mud slinging that went on at Waitangi and would have entirely supported the Government if they discontinued visiting that venue.
I note that throughout the media there is much disinformation as to the true terms and intent of the Treaty and it has in recent times been held in contempt by the complete rejection of its first and fundamental principle of equal before the law under the reign of the King. In fact I would support the outright revoking of the Treaty on the grounds it has been abused by one of the parties.
However I am ok with giving it another chance, provided the fundamental principle is observed by all parties, ie Equal under the Law under one Government, I am happy to continue, I can be celebrating "Settlers Day".
The idea deserves wide acceptance and a change in common attitude. Instead of resentment from Maori activists why not gratitude towards people who came from the far side of the planet and helped Maori overcome the horrors of a tribal cannibalistic lifestyle. Their intentions were sound and mostly carried out with good will on both sides. All Maori today are descended from the settlers to some degree and their forefathers deserve thanks rather than the drummed up antagonism developed by many "academics" with an agenda based on lies.
Could we possibly stop ALL discrimination and get on with life as ONE people: NEW ZEALANDERS.
OK, I am also an immigrant too, like all pre-eighteen fourty people who came to this country.
As Aparina Ngata said : scrap the Waitangi settlement, or get lots of trouble.
We HAVE lots of trouble!!
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