Being a history junkie and as such, immediately attracted to the headline, after reading the first couple of paragraphs, l soon realised that this supposed recording of an important aspect of our nation’s history is quite a long way short of what l hoped it might be.
Perhaps
unsurprisingly, as a nation looking to sanitise its past of some horrible
atrocities, we are being asked to accept that the cleansing process is all
about exposing the horror, but in a way that is outrageously offensive in its
partial account of what actually happened all those years ago. It isn’t the
content of the opinion piece that offends but simply the use of this selected
piece of our history in an effort to demonise only one group of early settlers.
If you ever needed
evidence of why educational (brainwashing) programmes based only on one or two
debatable facts of history have been and will continue to be rejected in this
country, then look no further that what happened here on October 14th.
The country
overwhelming sent a clear message to those who want to put the whole country
through a re-education process that has done more than any other single
movement to divide us based on race. “We are not interested in your false
teaching - at least not until you are prepared to fully embrace the complete
and unsanitised version of what we know to be true.”
In order to do that we have told these “guilt trippers” that New Zealand was, at least until the recent election, fast becoming an international haven for those who are only interested in destroying the close bond of the different ethnic groups in modern society. We are saying - “Go somewhere else to spread your hate and false sense of entitlement. You are not and never will be us!” But that is not to say we want to extinguish from the record any event that had a detrimental effect on one particular sector of the population.
Far from it!
What we do want
and are willing to support is for any re writing of the Nation’s history to
include every single event that will be forever a blot on our combined
heritage.
That should
include an accurate account of the New Zealand Wars and the damage done to
groups who deserve compensation for those atrocities but also what should be an
equally honest retelling of the pre treaty “ Musket Wars”. which involve some
of the worst accounts of genocide in the Nation’s history.
We can’t expect to
make progress trying to atone for misdeeds of our forebears if that process
only involves one ethnic group of our ancestry.
So, let’s be
clear.
The only way we
can progress towards the fulfilment of our egalitarian objectives is to
recognise the past for what it was and aim to insure future generations are
aware of the terrible mistakes we made in order not to repeat them.
Thankfully and
hopefully, we may be on the verge of a new direction, having learned from our
history that remembrance is about sharing the guilt as well as the times and
people that make us proud.
8 comments:
Historians have an eye to producing texts for the new history interpretation so are inclined to adopt a line attractive to the perpetuators of the new history.
I agree. We need to consider all the misdeeds of our early history. The horrors of the Musket Wars and the atrocities of Maori against Maori need to be highlighted as you say. And of course injuries to Maori during the Maori wars which we hear much about. But let’s not forget the atrocities of Maori against the settlers at that time. Many women and children murdered by Maori. Today we would label these people as terrorists. They took up arms against a legitimate Government and received, what some would say, as light punishment for their treason.
Sir Apirana Ngata said of the Maori Wars: “Some sections of the Maori people violated that authority (of the Government). War arose and blood was spilled. The law came into operation and land was taken in payment. This itself is a Maori custom - revenge, plunder to avenge a wrong.”
We need balance in reporting history, and avoid the cliches…
Yes!
and we need to open the history that has been locked away about the pre-Maori inhabitants. We need to face our past in full as other countries do. Tell everyone the truth, then we can move forward as one people.
Shame on you Clive for even opening a book written by O'Malley.
You also comment on the "Musket" wars. The reality is the musket only made what had been carried out for centuries between Maaori groups more efficient.
As far as is known the biggest battle of them all was near Te Awamutu c1805 when it is believed as many as 16000 combatants were involved.
Also Capt. James Cook summarized his 3 journeys here by musing that "Maaori major occupation was war"
The first step towards being able to remember the past is to discover it, that is all of it. How many pieces of archeology have been embargoed immediately after discovery, why hasn't the Stone City in northland been thoroughly investigated, and why aren't human remains DNA tested? Anyone would think that there has been a decades long conspiracy to bury any archeology which might disprove the idea that Maori are the first people to live on these Islands.
Colonization did not destroy the tangata Māori’s way of life, it was Hongi Hika, Ngāpuhi who destroyed it when he returned from England in 1820 with over 500 muskets and went on the rampage south with 2000 followers, killing thousands of their unarmed countrymen, women, and children for the fun of it and the feasts that followed. It was not long before the southern tribes had gained muskets and were attacking Ngāpuhi for utu/revenge.
Thirteen of Ngāpuhi’s chiefs wrote to the King of England in 1831 asking him to be their guardian, friend, and protector. See Page 4.
Hongi Hika. The man who destroyed
the tangata Māori’s way of life in 1820.
Thirteen of Ngāpuhi’s chiefs wrote to the King of England in 1831 asking him to be their guardian, friend, and protector. In 1833 a British Resident was sent to bring peace between the people of New Zealand, but this failed as the fighting between the tribes, now they had muskets, had escalated completely out of control. Te Rauparaha did the same in the South Island as Hongi Hika in the North Island. The tangata Maori race was rapidly heading for extinction by their own hand.
Britain had no other option now than to step in and take complete control of New Zealand if the tangata Maori were to survive, with over 500 tangata Maori chiefs in agreement. This was achieved by the six documents below that made New Zealand into a British Colony under one flag and one law, irrespective of race colour or creed. This cannot be denied as it is all fully documented in the New Zealand, Australian and American Archives, plus the British Parliamentary Papers.
I have heard that Vincent O'Malley is Irish and 'hates' the English. But the last governenment went to him for their interpretations of our history.
There are plenty of unbiased historians out there, and we need an honest and true story to be taught in our schools. We could read more too - there are many contemporary accounts written by people who experienced what happened at the time.
I believe that our British parents sanitised the history of New Zealand and tactfully (for Maori) never mentioned the cannibalism and slavery which was rife - and if you believe the PC people now - well that's OK, as it was their 'culture', and try to tell us we should be living by Maori ways/culture today. No way, I really appreciate my European heritage and, yes, culture.
Hi Murray
From her recent comments it seems Marama Davidson is determined to continue the traditon, now against the colonist tribes (except allies Pacifica, who, despite not being Treaty sigantories, contrive to identify with maori, not that it will earn them any favours).
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