Bob Edlin: Champions of Maori flag raise questions about their grasp of sovereignty and history

RNZ’s audience might have been left wondering about the nature of the curriculum at St Stephen’s School, when they heard the reasons that students were giving for championing the Tino Rangatiratanga flag.

The students’ thinking about identity, history and culture is recorded in a report about a campaign to have the flag flown permanently alongside the New Zealand flag on the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

Campaign supporters are reported as saying this would recognise Māori identity, history and “the dual heritage of Aotearoa”.

Campaign organisers aim to gather 80,000 signatures in support of permanently raising the flag from Waitangi Day next year.

The flag now flies on the bridge each Waitangi Day before being removed the following day.

St Stephen’s School principal Nathan Durie told RNZ the campaign provided an opportunity for young people to engage with the country’s history and future.

He noted that in Australia, the Aboriginal flag has flown permanently on Sydney Harbour Bridge since 2022 following a long-running public campaign.


“The point was made about the Australians have been flying the Aboriginal flag for a few years,” Durie said.

“That does not correct the past, but it’s a statement. In terms of this flag, as it’s known as the Tino Rangatiratanga flag, recognises the fact that we did not cede sovereignty and our sovereign voice needs to be heard.”

Is that what is being taught at the school?

The highly contentious issue of whether Maori ceded sovereignty when they signed the Treaty of Waitangi – or what sovereignty, if any, “the Crown” or Parliament are entitled to exercise – obviously has been settled by the headmaster.

Maori did not cede it – and that’s a “fact”.

A 16-year-old student at the school, Tāmati Bruce, is reported as saying that permanently flying the Tino Rangatiratanga flag would send an important message about Māori “belonging” in this country.

“It represents who we are as a country.

“Aotearoa is not just people from overseas, it’s the native people who are actually from this land.”

Hmm. The writer of this PoO article is entitled to describe himself as a native person who actually comes from this land.

That’s because the exact meaning of the term “native people” depends on the context, language, and whether it is used generally or as a synonym for indigenous peoples.

Google advised us:

• A “native” can simply mean a person born in a specific town, city, or country (e.g., calling someone a “Baltimore native” or a “New Zealand native”).
• When applied as “native peoples” or “Indigenous peoples,” it refers to groups who inhabited a country or geographical region before the arrival of later colonists, settlers, or dominant cultures.

Tamati Bruce probably had “indigenous” in mind.

But take note that the surname Bruce originated in Normandy, France. It was taken to England during the Norman Conquest of 1066 and later becoming famous in Scotland, thanks to Robert the Bruce.

His fellow student, Eli Rush, rejected calls for the New Zealand flag to be the only flag flown on the bridge.

“I think there’s definitely two cultures in New Zealand, and Māori should definitely be up there too.”

“Definitely two” opens the possibility that maybe there are more.

Indeed there are.

Google reckons New Zealand is home to over 200 distinct ethnic groups and people who speak more than 150 languages.

According to data from the Stats NZ 2023 Census, the population is divided across five major ethnic categories, alongside people identifying with multiple or other backgrounds:

• European: 67.8%
• Māori: 17.8%
• Asian: 17.3% (including Chinese, Indian, Filipino, Korean, and other communities)
• Pacific Peoples: 8.9% (including Samoan, Tongan, Cook Islands Māori, and Niuean)
• Middle Eastern, Latin American, and African (MELAA): 1.9%.

The “indigenous” issue is open to argument, too, of course.

PoO suggests the students who talk of being indigenous dip into their history books.

Or they might read an article posted this week on The Conversation

How Did Early Māori Society Develop? New Research Reveals A Clearer Timeline

Fiona Petchey, from the University of Waikato, writes –

When the first Polynesian settlers arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand some 750 years ago, they found an environment very different to the lands they left behind.

To arrive here, they must have come from somewhere.

The Conversation article goes on:

Archaeologists have traditionally divided early Māori history into three broad periods. The first, from around 1250 to 1400, was marked by the establishment of settlements and hunting of moa and other native wildlife.

A less understood “transitional” period followed, before the emergence of “classic” Māori society around 1600, with more intensive food production, fortified settlements and distinctive cultural traditions.

Terms such as the “Māori Middle Ages” highlight the frustrating unknowns that still cloud this picture.

The article is about research which offers a more precise definition.

The definition of “indigenous” remains bemusingly elastic.

Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE.