Barrie Davis: Children of the Miffed

First published in 1925, Tuhoe: The Children of the Mist by Elsdon Best on Maori lore has just been republished.

The jacket cover tells us that Best was born at Porirua in 1856, worked on a sheep station in Poverty Bay and lived with the Tuhoe people in the Ureweras. “Nine years before his death in 1931, Sir Apirana Ngata said of him, ‘There is not a member of the Maori race who is fit to wipe the boots of Elsdon Best in the matter of knowledge of the lore of the race to which we belong’.”

Barrie Davis: Better Together

We, the people of New Zealand, are being forced apart by our own representative Parliament into two groups – part-Maori and non-Maori. Here is my understanding of the situation:

Murray Reid: Complaint to News Hub

“Album to Commemorate Invasion of Rangiaowhia to be Released”.

Meriana Johnsen.  22 November 2023 

 

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2023/11/album-to-commemorate-invasion-of-rangiaowhia-to-be-released.html

My complaint relates solely to the following sentence: "More than 100 people at the pā - half of the women, children and kaumātua who were living there - were murdered, raped or injured”.

Bruce Moon: The Elephant in the Room?

“Democracy must belong to all of us” Dennis Chavez 

For a hotbed of racist propaganda and dubious history one need look no further than a publication called “E-Tangata”. And for an extreme example from it, one need look no further that the article by Moana Maniapoto dated 12 November 2023.

Bruce Moon: The Treaty Tale for Jane and John Citizen

“Do not go back, but sit here, a Governor” Matiu, Chief of Uri-o-ngongo, at Waitangi, 5th February 1840 

During the late 1700s and early 1800s, incessant intertribal wars, led by the various tribal chiefs, were decimating the Maori population, nearing the point of total extermination.[1]  A number of Maori chiefs, unable to resolve the matter between themselves, and for fear of the French, appealed to King William IV of Great Britain to protect them and bring an end to this situation.[2]  At first, the Crown was reluctant to intervene,[3] but finally it was agreed to establish a government in New Zealand to assume control of the situation and to establish law and order for Maoris and British alike. This was only possible if the Crown was granted superiority by the chiefs, that is, recognized as sovereign.[4]  In the event, the British took control by invitation not by conquest nor by stealth.

Roger Childs: History Ideas to Confound and Indoctrinate Our Youngsters

The 4 year old daughter of our neighbours is off to school later in the year. She chatters away about family, friends, scooters, toys, and clothes, but is she ready for ideas like

·Maori history is the foundational and continuous history of Aotearoa New Zealand.

·Colonisation and its consequences have been central to our history for the past 200 years and continue to influence all aspects of New Zealand society.

·The course of Aotearoa New Zealand history has been shaped by the exercise and effects of power?

All New Zealanders need to be concerned about the slant on New Zealand history that is very likely to be inflicted on our 5 to15 year olds from next year. The proposed new curriculum is now out for comment and you can access it through: Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories in our national curriculum – Education in New Zealand

Bruce Moon: Looking at Land

Among the subjects on which the history-twisting power-seekers who infest New Zealand today would whip up the emotions of their supporters the major one would certainly be land. The most recent example is of course that of Ihumatao. There we have the self-appointed protest leader, Pania Newton reported as saying: “we are challenging the notion that the government can simply wash its hands of the confiscation of lands that happened in the 1860s, and the devastating effects of this.”[i]  

Green Party Co-leader Marama Davidson chimes in, claiming that the dispute represents a: “continuation of colonisation”.[ii]  The protesters’ ‘facebook” page claims that: “we protect this waahi tapu at Ihumaatao”,[iii]  By contrast, tribal leaders  “point out that claims that the land is on ancient burial grounds and is wahi tapu, are deliberately misleading [and that] the land to be built on was used for growing wheat”![iv]