The four shared a common cause but naturally they were not identical in background nor precise orientation. Of the four, three had a European parent, Pomare being the exception. Three were university graduates, Carroll once quipping he was graduate of the ‘University of Nature’. Three were noted debaters and orators, Buck less so (and more the outstanding scholar and author).
The quartet had a string of firsts for Maori: the first university degree (Ngata), the first cabinet post (Carroll), the first NZ trained doctor (Buck). Some excelled in athletics: Buck was twice national long jump champion. All opposed to varying degrees the Maori separatists of their day and any talk of Te Kohitanga (the Maori Parliament). Buck and Pomare, the two doctors, supported the passing of the Tohunga Suppression Act 1907. Pomare was more welcoming of assimilation and the melding of Pakeha and Maori; Ngata more solicitous to preserve and foster Maoritanga and Maori arts.
Winston Peters in his most recent election campaigning was wont to brandish Sir Apirana Ngata’s Treaty of Waitangi booklet and was fond of rattling off the Four Knights as forbears in his political whakapapa.
Many modern Maori from the 1970s onwards have been inclined to diminish the feats of these Four Knights. Damned with faint praise, they were undoubtedly “men of their time”, but their time has passed and in this present context new strategies are required. The separatist strain within Maori political thinking has been revivified and drawn strength from the writings of the likes of Dr Ranginui Walker, Dr Hugh Kawharu, Prof Mason Durie, Dr Linda Tuhiwai Smith and, lawyer, Moana Jackson. These and other Maori and Pakeha scholars and activists have provided the philosophical impetus to this contemporary kaleidoscope of varying claims to greater autonomy and self-determination. The co-governance phenomenon is a destination for some and, for others, but a staging post for even greater realization of tino rangatiratanga.
For Mr Peters this is a retrograde stance that his forbears considered, weighed in the balance, and was found wanting. Imagine, if you will, Carroll, Pomare, Ngata and Buck on a Mt Rushmore of the Southern Alps. Winston Peters can. For him, the current crop of rather unimpressive and (comparatively) uneducated Maori politicians are not within cooee of the Four Knights. To use another boxing term, Peters lays serious claim to being the lineal champion of political Maori. It is hard not to agree.
The quartet had a string of firsts for Maori: the first university degree (Ngata), the first cabinet post (Carroll), the first NZ trained doctor (Buck). Some excelled in athletics: Buck was twice national long jump champion. All opposed to varying degrees the Maori separatists of their day and any talk of Te Kohitanga (the Maori Parliament). Buck and Pomare, the two doctors, supported the passing of the Tohunga Suppression Act 1907. Pomare was more welcoming of assimilation and the melding of Pakeha and Maori; Ngata more solicitous to preserve and foster Maoritanga and Maori arts.
Winston Peters in his most recent election campaigning was wont to brandish Sir Apirana Ngata’s Treaty of Waitangi booklet and was fond of rattling off the Four Knights as forbears in his political whakapapa.
Many modern Maori from the 1970s onwards have been inclined to diminish the feats of these Four Knights. Damned with faint praise, they were undoubtedly “men of their time”, but their time has passed and in this present context new strategies are required. The separatist strain within Maori political thinking has been revivified and drawn strength from the writings of the likes of Dr Ranginui Walker, Dr Hugh Kawharu, Prof Mason Durie, Dr Linda Tuhiwai Smith and, lawyer, Moana Jackson. These and other Maori and Pakeha scholars and activists have provided the philosophical impetus to this contemporary kaleidoscope of varying claims to greater autonomy and self-determination. The co-governance phenomenon is a destination for some and, for others, but a staging post for even greater realization of tino rangatiratanga.
For Mr Peters this is a retrograde stance that his forbears considered, weighed in the balance, and was found wanting. Imagine, if you will, Carroll, Pomare, Ngata and Buck on a Mt Rushmore of the Southern Alps. Winston Peters can. For him, the current crop of rather unimpressive and (comparatively) uneducated Maori politicians are not within cooee of the Four Knights. To use another boxing term, Peters lays serious claim to being the lineal champion of political Maori. It is hard not to agree.
Rex Ahdar is a Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Otago, New Zealand, and an Adjunct Professor at the School of Law, University of Notre Dame Australia, at Sydney. This article was first published HERE
3 comments:
A generous dollop of European inheritance is a common trait of able maori irrespective of the virtue of their particular leaning. it is strange that so many denegrate colonist associated values.
Prof Rex Ahdar has sat on or behind the safety fence with his contribution.
The Professor of Law should forward an opinion as to Tiknga being lawful, or a thought and feeling process that has or has NOT a place in the Supreme and High Court of New Zealand .
This is of the utmost importance to NZ Courts and also the Foreshore and Seabed issue that is in need of the highest legal scutiny.
The NZCPR notaries have led the way , Mr Luxon and Professor Ahdar should step up for our nation.
Clearly Winstone sees the practical reality. There’s no place for co-governance in 2024 amongst people fully integrated through intermarriage, 180 years after a Treaty that no longer holds any relevance…
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