NZCPR Newsletter: Waitangi Day 2025

“We should not think of ourselves as Maoris or pakehas, but rather as one people.” 
– Labour Prime Minister Walter Nash, Waitangi Day 1960.

Waitangi Day was first officially commemorated in 1934, two years after the Treaty grounds were gifted to the nation by the Governor-General Lord Bledisloe.

During the 1940 centennial celebration of the signing of the Treaty, Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage emphasised national unity and pride.