Wayne Ryburn: Article 1 - Exposing History Curriculum Myths

This series of eight articles exposes some of the myths about New Zealand's History, now being taught to secondary school students. 

The Level 5 workbook for Year 10 students on the "Treaty of Waitangi - Te Tiriti o Waitangi" was published and has been in use since 2014. The page numbers and headings in the text are referenced throughout the series of articles. 

Some aspects, especially on the Taranaki and Waikato wars, are also re-taught in greater depth in the History curriculum at Year 13.

The series of articles was written as a critique to the editor of ESA publications, Jo Crichton and the author of the text book, F J Gibson. This critique was sent in October last year,to date there has been no reply.

ARTICLE 1 - EXPOSING HISTORY CURRICULUM MYTHS 

Introduction: The letter to Jo Crichton; The Creation of Myths, English Society, Religious Beliefs and the Declaration of Independence pre 1840.

Letter to the Editor: ESA Publications Jo Crichton and author EFJ Gibson re textbook “Treaty of Waitangi. Te Tiriti o Waitangi”

Dear Jo Crichton, Editor E.S.A. Publications and E.F.J. Gibson,

I have taught social sciences for 40 years. As an H.O.D, I incorporated NZ history at junior levels using texts such as “The Cultures Collide” in the 1990s.

In earlier times, growing up in the south Kaipara, I was intrigued by and explored surrounding hilltops where ancient pa sites existed. These indicated an earlier period of much tribal fighting.

Local Ngati Whatua were displaced in the northern Kaipara, with a major battle between Ngapuhi and Ngati Whatua, including Te Uriohau ,fought at Kaiwaka at the infamous battle of Te-ika-ranga-nui in February 1825. This battle was in retaliation for a major defeat by Ngapuhi at the battle of Moremonui (1807). Some 300 Ngapuhi, led by Hongi Hika, with muskets defeated 1000 warriors, who had mainly traditional weapons, spears and clubs. The Kaiwaka river ran “red with blood”. Many prisoners were taken and held in bondage while a few unlucky ones were eaten, with their heads stuck on sticks. Two Ngapuhi chiefs involved in this conflict were brothers Waka Nene and Puatone  both would later take a leading role in the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Ngati Whatua tribal remnants withdrew to local mountains, where they lived until the European settlement of Auckland was established in 1840.

Following the event at Kaiwaka, a group of Ngati Whatua warriors returned to the area to exact utu. They did so, killing 70 of a group of 80 Ngapuhi in a surprise attack. Hongi, hearing of this returned with 350 warriors, setting off for Auckland and pursuing the tribe all the way to the Waipa River. Chief Te Rewharewa of the Uri-o-hau hapu had sought refuge in the Ngati Poa pa at Nohoawatea. The Ngati Poa were asked to leave in peace, which they did. The pa was assaulted by Hongi Hika’s warriors, its occupant slaughtered, eaten &/or taken back as slaves to the Bay of Islands. Ngati Whatua were forced to abandon their rohe of the Kaipara and Tamaki. Leaders and hapu were scattered in various refuges in the Hauraki and Waikato. Many only returned following  the signing of the treaty in 1840 and for this reason Hobson was asked to establish the new capital at Tamaki, seeking the security that British settlement would bring with it.

Bishop Selwyn, the Anglican primate for NZ in 1842 spent 6 months visiting the country on horseback, sailing ship and walking. On one of these walks he left the Coromandel, travelled to Auckland, continuing on through to the south Kaipara and northwards to the Bay of Islands. He found the landscape largely desolate, with few people.  This was much the same as two Anglican missionaries, King and Hamlin claimed  ten years earlier in 1832, who passed through the Kaipara walking to the Waikato.

 In 1856, Rev William Gittos (1829-1916) took over the Wesleyan Methodist Mission station established at Oruawharo on the Kaipara.  Gittos had arrived in the new settlement of Auckland in 1840. In 1845 his family were evacuated from the Hokianga at the start of the Northern Wars. William would leave for Melbourne and returned to the Kaipara as an ordained minister in the Wesleyan faith. In 1862 he visited the newly arrived settlers at Port Albert and conducted their first Sunday church service. Following his retirement to Ponsonby in1885, Gittos moved to the Waikato in 1891. Here he worked amongst the kingites and spoke at the tangi  for king Tawhiao in September 1894. In his lifetime Auckland had changed from a tent village to a city of 133000.

Local Maori consented to sell or lease land to John Rogan, the Land Commissioner from 1857 through to the 1860s. One large block of 60,000 acres purchased from Chiefs Paikea te Hekeua and Arama Karaka became known as the Albertland Block. In 1863 Paikea would stress that he sold land “to bring peace to the area. You are my pakeha, we are the children of Queen Victoria. I wish us to be brothers together” and at the same time condemned the Waikato tribes going to war.

This is part of the story of how land came to be settled by European settlers around the Kaipara as mentioned in my text, ‘Tall Spars, Steamers and Gum.”

Wayne Ryburn
...

The text, Treaty of Waitangi - Te Tiriti o Waitangi Learning Workbook, written for the social studies curriculum, covers topics related to the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and conflict that ensured within the next 20 years, that are quite complex that even MP's find difficult to come to terms with, let alone school students.

History that is rewritten to fix misconceptions or correct previous mistakes, with the aim to obtain a more accurate account is important , but when it is done under a political or ideological view point you no longer become a historian but a propagandist. Much of what is used in the school publication is of the latter. The text appears to follow a Marxist re-interpretation of history, whereby Maori are Good, Pakeha are Bad. Kerry Howe stated in 2000  that New Zealand was increasingly being exposed to a “simplistic moralising form of politco-pop history”.”Today's  values and social policy were being imposed on the past. The past needs to be seen in terms of its own values and perspectives.” It is important that all historical viewpoints are used, otherwise the text becomes a mere indoctrination of one perspective of New Zealand's history.

Attention  is made to the many inaccuracies featured in this workbook. The creation and use of many myths occurs through out the text, with no verification made to there authenticity which indicates the author is writing only from an ideological perspective only. This does not help students to understand the complexity of events in New Zealand's early history.

Several myths and much misinformation has emerged, in recent times, and are covered in this critique;

1.The creation of a partnership between the Crown and Maori Iwi with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi 1840

2 In the Northern wars of 1845, Maori invented trench warfare.

3 Wiremu Kingi was a paramount chief over the minor chief,Teira.

4 The government insisted Waikato Maori sell their land as they were prospering.

5 The massacre of women and children at Rangiaowhia 21^st Feb 1864.

6  Parihaka convicts were held in a cave in Dunedin,with many dying of exposure.

7  Ngati Whatua gifted land for the settlement of Auckland in1840.

Plus a few other myths and misrepresentation of events exist that are being taught as historic facts.

I will give the key points with page referencing from the text book.

At the start of the text book, reference is made about what type of people came to live in New Zealand from the British Isles.

Page 4 English society 1800-1840.

The text uses the word “Peasant”. A term used to describe rural workers in feudalistic societies. It refers to a person who in pre-industrial times worked often in servitude to land owning aristocracy. By the 19th century in the UK, farm labourers, were either tenants who rented land or were waged farm labourers.

The late 18th and early 19th century had seen an agricultural and industrial revolution change the landscape of the United Kingdom. The Enclosure acts had displaced small freeholders,many became tenant farmers. In Scotland the Highland clearance of crofters meant they were displaced and left. Rapid population growth with the rise of cities meant many people wanted to leave and move to other parts of the world for a better life. The majority of New Zealanders came from the midlands and London, and they were usually tradespeople. It is from such people that New Zealand’s “number eight wire” attitude to making do with whatever materials were available, developed. 

Pg 7 English Cultural and Religious beliefs.

Problematic is the lack of basic understanding of Christianity in New Zealand's present society, we simply live in a secular age. Few children attend a Christian church, even fewer have read the bible. Pictures on their own don’t help to explain concepts of God, Jesus, the Holy Trinity, the symbol of the cross, etc. - the ten commandments may be best used. Plus the main difference for Maori society, is that many gods exist, while for Christianity there is only one God. 

Pg 9-10 The Declaration of Independence 1835.

Busby tried to improve and organise the country's shipping, with a flag, as New Zealand owned ships lacked international protection without one such as British or French ships did. You could be considered a pirate with no flag.

Busby moved the Declaration of Independence in 1835 in response to increasing French interests in NZ (Charles de Thierry in the Hokianga).

Four clauses were written to fabricate a modern state where none had existed previously. The last article in The Declaration is important as it concedes a relationship with Great Britain. Busby’s attempts in believing that Maori chiefs would share his ideals of government were misplaced; the Declaration was superseded by the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 when the British Crown formally annexed and acquired sovereignty over NZ. 

Wayne Ryburn, an Auckland University graduate, with a thesis on the history of the Kaipara, “Tall Spars, Steamers and Gum”, has been a social science teacher for nearly 50  years.