"It’s often assumed that the 19th-century New Zealand Wars fought between the Crown and various groups of Māori were exclusively a Te Ika-a-Māui (North Island) story. But there is a largely unknown history of southern engagement with these conflicts. " — Historian Vincent O'Malley.
“I shall never forget the first odour of tropical plants... the strangeness of outrigger canoes and of houses thatched with pandanus, and, above all, the kindly salutations and spontaneous hospitality of the handsome brown-skinned inhabitants who were kin to my own people.” — Te Rangi Hīroa, from the newly republished 'Vikings of the Sunrise'.
“It’s fair to say that those responsible for this remarkable expansion of territory had been global leaders in the arts of landfinding and navigation for most of the last 5,000 years.” — Andrew Crowe, on the voyaging achievements of Pacific navigators.
Te Puea “instinctively understood that anyone, Māori or Pākehā, who saw waka taua on the water were enthralled by them. And that is what she wanted to create: a symbol to make Māori feel proud, and for Pākehā to admire.” — Jeff Evans, in Ngātokimatawhaorua: The biography of a waka.
“Colonisation and its underlying ideological justifications go a long way towards explaining how white race organisations took hold here in the 20th century.” — Dr Avery Smith.
"What would the lives of our families look like had the Crown adhered to its side of the bargain in 1845 and fulfilled its obligations as our trustee?" — Kerensa Johnston.
“The Crown can make the case as complex as they want. But at its heart, it’s simple. And we are not going away.” — Professor Sandy Morrison on the Nelson Tenths Reserves.
“Imprisonment and forced labour, here and for Indigenous people in the Pacific Islands, were a deliberate means of breaking property and traditional work practice into the mould of capital.” — Rob Campbell reviews 'Blood and Dirt'.
“Imprisoned workers were essential to creating the basic infrastructure of New Zealand’s Pacific empire. Government agents needed government buildings, so offenders who couldn’t (or wouldn’t) pay their fines built residencies, courthouses and other imperial premises.” — Jared Davidson.
“New Zealand’s history of colonialism with Banaba should be part of the current education curriculum. Students should understand how Banaba had to die for New Zealand’s grazing agriculture to live.” — Hele Christopher-Ikimotu.
“My heart was full to the brim with love. It became my armour for that day that was to become te rā pouri o Aotearoa, the day New Zealand cried.” — Sharon Hawke.
“Whether we see Māori histories or not, whether we elbow them aside because we think they take up too much room, whether we acknowledge them or not — even when we repeatedly, boringly, make them invisible — they are always here.” — Dr Aroha Harris.
“Before we can be reconciled by the Treaty, we need to reconcile the Treaty to itself and restore its mana.” — Alistair Reese.
“It all happened within one hundred years, ‘with an axe’. Within that time, 96 per cent of the forest, most of which was north of Auckland, was destroyed.” — Rebecca Priestley on the destruction of the kauri forests.
“A change in mindsets and attitudes is needed if people in Aotearoa New Zealand are to grasp the revolutionary shifts that have occurred and continue to evolve.” — Claudia Orange, in 'The Story of a Treaty/He Kōrero Tiriti'.
“Māori expected Te Tiriti to be the start of a new relationship with Britain — one in which they would have an equal role. They expected that the kāwanatanga of the first article would enable officials in New Zealand to control troublesome Europeans.” — Claudia Orange.
“The handing down of this knowledge to the whānau is a taonga for our hapū and iwi. It helps shelter us from the chill of losing every inch of our land.” — Hazel Coromandel-Wander, on the kōrero passed down from her great-grandmother, a survivor of the Rangiaowhia massacre in 1864.
“It’s my personal belief that you mustn’t be a spectator of stupidity or unfairness. The grave will supply plenty of time for silence.” — John McIntosh on helping Northland hapū Ngāti Manu some of their land back.
“’You will honourably and scrupulously fulfil the conditions of the Treaty of Waitangi . . .’” — Lord Stanley, the Colonial Secretary in London, to Governor George Grey in New Zealand, after Grey asked him how far he had to abide by the Treaty.
“The betrayal and violation of the Treaty was in itself a form of state corruption, driven by the settler quest for land at the expense of Māori.” — Professors Robert Gregory and Daniel Zirker.
“The Crown profoundly regrets its horrific and needless acts of war and raupatu, which have caused you and your hapū inter-generational suffering.” — Crown apology to Ngāti Maniapoto.
“There is no property in children. Māori children know many homes, but still one whānau.” — From the landmark Pūao Te Ata Tū report, written in 1986.
“To a Westerner, the art of the Pacific, particularly that of Polynesia, is like an escape, a search for purity and truth, a renewal,” George Ortiz, the Bolivian magnate who bought the illegally-acquired Motunui epa in 1973 and held on to them for four decades.
“Getting Māori land back is not going to happen by magic. It's not going to happen by other people's generosity. It's only going to happen by our own straight-out determination and persistence.” — Robyn Bargh on the return of hapū land.
“The Māori text simply makes more explicit what was already implicit in the English text and well understood on the British side — that Māori self-government (rangatiratanga) can co-exist with Crown sovereignty (kāwanatanga).” — Ned Fletcher.
“The continued determination to negotiate with Māori men while ignoring Māori women, 154 years after the signing of the Treaty, is the gravamen of a claim recently lodged against the Crown before the Waitangi Tribunal.” — Ani Mikaere.
“Imagine coming back after fighting for God, king and country to find your papakāinga destroyed.” — Angeline Greensill.
“It's easy to laugh at these cereal lies, but the truth is that these stereotypes and racist assumptions still exist — in my classes, in debates on social media, and in the community where I live.” — Catherine Delahunty.
“Colonisation continues to have long-lasting impacts on us as South Asians, even here in Aotearoa.” — Ara Alam-Simmons.
“As I remember the songs of our land, as I remember the history of our land, I weep here on the shores of the Bay of Islands.” — Bishop Whakahuihui Vercoe in 1990.
“Mum was an articulate, visionary, and fearless woman. She was the biggest driver of the petition for reo Māori to be included in the school curriculum . . . She did all that organising from her kitchen table.” — Ramari Jackson.
“The events that occurred at Parihaka and in Te Urewera are facts. They are not made up and all New Zealanders need to have a good understanding of what happened.” — Chris Finlayson.
“No one knows exactly when it happened, but once these migration voyages ended, the practical application of celestial navigation was quietly lost to the people who would become known as Māori.” — Jeff Evans, in ‘Reawakened’.
“The instruments used to displace the querulous Irish ... are the same as those subsequently deployed to deal with the troublesome Māori." — Professor Richard Shaw.
“Whina and the other League women are remembered for ‘assaulting the ears of Government Departments’, particularly on issues related to housing and mortgages.” — Dr Aroha Harris.
“The name von Tempsky is a reminder of a past filled with despair and anguish and injustice. We did not want to have a name on our street which commemorates that man’s hand in the invasion of Waikato.” — Tukoroirangi Morgan.
"Although his name and reputation have become blurred over time, for those of us who know the history of the north — and the history of our leaders who stood and defended our lands from the triple-threat of Europeans, muskets and religion — there is no one quite like Hongi Hika." — Shane Jones.
“The bylines of some entries are so unique, so remarkable, as to make you marvel that such a person could exist — and then to wonder why it has taken until now for their stories to become known to the wider public.” — Kennedy Warne on 'Tāngata Ngāi Tahu'.
“As we begin to teach our difficult histories in schools, these memorials and monuments will appear increasingly out of place and one-sided to many more of us, and there will be more and more questions about what we do with them.” — Dr Liana MacDonald.
“Some of the most powerful stories are recounted in the quiet spaces when words fail us — when the past turns into a tale of sadness or grief.” — Tom Roa and Joanna Kidman.
“Despite its historical and cultural significance, the fourth article of the Treaty, the oral, has often been neglected." — Alistair Reese.
"The New Zealand Wars have left a huge legacy. Once you know these histories, you’ve opened the box of memories and you can’t ever unknow them." — Professor Joanna Kidman.
“These places are not passive backdrops to human action — they are agents, participants, characters in the dramas that unfold across their volcanic surfaces.” — Kennedy Warne reviews 'Shifting Grounds' by Lucy Mackintosh.
“For Kīngitanga supporters who had been urged to fight in a ‘civilised’ manner, the assault on Rangiaowhia was an almost incomprehensible act of treachery.” — New Zealand Wars historian Vincent O’Malley.
“The connections with our tūpuna are very close; they’re direct and they help me recall what our old people used to tell us." — Whanganui kaumātua John Niko Maihi, writing in a new book: Hei Taonga mā ngā Uri Whakatipu / Treasures for the Rising Generation.
“In New Zealand the whole machinery of justice has been made by the white majority. These are the facts of racist oppression.” — Oliver Sutherland.
“Many Māori communities never saw a medical officer during the outbreak and were not asked for an estimate of fatalities. Some of them were almost annihilated.” — Michael King, from his biography of Te Puea Hērangi.
“Once arrogantly dismissed as journeys of luck — the aimless drifting of incompetent mariners — these voyages are now rightly adulated as ‘among the greatest acts of voyage and discovery in world history.’” — Kennedy Warne on 'Polynesia:900–1600' by Madi Williams.
“The same system which processed the land theft has adapted to prevent its return. Apologies and cash compensation keep the issue of land safely dormant — like a sleeping baby strapped to the back of a new parent.” — Connie Buchanan.
"The Crown reckoned full redress was worth around $12 to $15 billion. Our advisers thought it was closer to $20 billion. We settled for $170 million — a lot less, but it allowed Ngāi Tahu to move forward, to rebuild." — Mark Solomon.
“My parents' dream of a better life collided with the cultural ignorance of mainstream New Zealand in the 1950s onwards.” — Fa'amoana Luafutu, who told his story of institutional abuse to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.
“In the multiple chapters of Pacific peoples’ story in New Zealand, the chapter of the Dawn Raids stands out as one that continues to cast a long shadow.” — Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's speech in full.
"For many Pākehā, me included, our time here began on land that had been stolen (sorry, 'confiscated') from the people to whom it belonged." — Professor Richard Shaw.
“If knowledge is power, then the draft curriculum is signalling a significant shift in society’s power base.” — Kennedy Warne.
“He was a born adventurer. Neil Armstrong-astronaut class. He was also a Bear Grylls-type survivalist — though his dramas were for real, and not invented for TV.” — Lloyd Ashton on Phillip Tapsell.
“No one was safe. The police just went to addresses where they knew Tongans lived, maybe tipped off by a disgruntled neighbour. And the checks were indiscriminate.” — Joris de Bres.
“In these fields, the tūpuna lie where they fell in the swamps or in unmarked graves hastily dug by survivors, with the dead piled up around them. I swear I can sometimes hear their voices.” — Joanna Kidman.
"The knowledge of wayfinding and waka building was almost lost as a living practice, destined to survive only in historical journals and museums. Luckily for us, a small group took up the battle to keep them alive." — Simone Kaho.
"The early plans for a British colony envisaged a Māori New Zealand in which settlers would somehow be accommodated," writes Claudia Orange. But, by 1840, there'd been a shift in thinking, reflecting "reluctant official acknowledgement that the tide of British colonisation could not be held back forever".
“We have been hoarding stories about Cook for 250 years now. Some of those stories are valuable, important, useful. Most of them are junk.” — Alice Te Punga Somerville.
“In the morning when the sun was high, near midday, they migrated, they left their pā. They did not allow themselves to weep, they left Kāwhia behind, following the paths along the coast."
"We are still here, the descendants and beneficiaries, the marginalised and reviled — so how are we going to face the truth, and how can it be taught?" — Catherine Delahunty on the teaching of New Zealand history.
“The majority of overstayers were British or American. But, in 1974, under the Labour Government, 107 Tongans, 24 Sāmoans and 2 Americans were deported. Meanwhile, arrests of Pacific overstayers continued.” — Dr Melani Anae.
“Time is more like a spiral than an arrow. You dive back into the ancestral past and, next minute, you’re spinning out into the future.” — Anne Salmond.
“You can’t be Pākehā and believe that you’re not personally responsible for the colonial oppression of Indigenous peoples. No matter who your ancestors are.” — Leah Bell.
Described as one of the most racist films ever made, and widely used as a Ku Klux Klan recruiting tool, D W Griffith’s 'The Birth of a Nation' was a hit in New Zealand, writes Zarahn Southon.
“What are the chances of ending racism in New Zealand by 2040? The news on this front would seem to be both good and bad.” — Trevor Richards.
“I’m starting to understand that amnesia may well be one of the main organising principles of colonisation. A selective forgetting is an important part of how power maintains its privileges.” — vivian Hutchinson.
“For several decades, Whina’s astute brand of leadership had been shaped by the traditions of her elders and powered by her own mighty self-confidence.”
“What happened to our people has been, and to a large extent remains, an inconvenient truth and stain on the history and conscience of our nation.” — Moriori leader Maui Solomon.
“There is no credible evidence that any non-Māori — other than Tasman and his crew — visited New Zealand before Cook’s first arrival in 1769.”
“We didn’t know what we were getting into and how we would be received. We only knew that we had left, we were going to march, and nothing was going to put us off that.” — Tama Te Kapua Poata on the 1975 Māori Land March.
“The people who have marched before me, who have occupied spaces before me: their feet taking steps for change, their bodies on the line, their voices hoarse with conviction . . . they are the iceberg below the surface.”
“In New Zealand, unlike anywhere else, South Africa’s racist sports practices have been the subject of Māori protest since the end of World War I.”
“The big question that still lies unanswered is not the acquisition of land rights, but the enjoyment of land rights. How do you enjoy being where you are?”
The move to make the teaching of history compulsory, “will not produce lasting benefit unless history comes to be seen not as information to be learned and then set aside, but as a force that shapes identity and influences choices.”
“We want to work shoulder to shoulder with this government rather than head-to-head headbutting.” — Ngahiwi Tomoana, Kahungunu leader.
“If someone had said to me in 2008, I’d be turning the Whanganui River into a legal person — or parliament would be — I would have laughed.” Chris Finlayson, former Treaty negotiations minister.
“It was so stressful. I told my lot I just want to be Pākehā for a while.”
Despite their war service during the First World War, Māori soldiers returning home found that little had changed in post-war New Zealand.
When the First World War broke out in 1914, the wars of the 1860s, the subsequent land confiscations, and the invasion of Parihaka in 1881 were still fresh in the memories of many Māori.
"Colonialism had done little to develop or educate those people it ruled, so for many Pacific — especially Polynesian — people, leaving their homelands was often seen as one of the few routes to economic and social advancement.”
What should we call the series of conflicts that raged between the Crown and groups of Māori from 1845 to 1872?
“This was bigger than just land ownership. It went to the heart of how Māori and Pākehā would live together.”
The 150th anniversaries of several brutal events in our local and national history has prompted Ernie Barrington to dip into the history books — to remember “episodes that call out to be remembered and not to be airbrushed away”.
"No infantry battalion had a more distinguished record, or saw more fighting, or, alas, had such heavy casualties as the Māori Battalion." — Extracts from the book: Ake Ake Kia Kaha E! Forever Brave!
Maybe it's too late for some of us to learn our history, but why subject our children and mokopuna to the same fate?
“The humanity of the Māori defenders at Gate Pā is what makes that battle stand out from every other colonial conflict in this country. It was something that truly captured the Victorian sentiment of the day.”
“Hiwi was perfect to be a Conciliator. He was not an angry man. He was a naturally diplomatic kind of guy, yet had the capacity to set his jaw, dig his heels in, and rark his voice up a bit.”
“Four generations from Pukehinahina–Gate Pā, my generation of our family is still looking at the future through yesterday’s lens and we will continue to do so.”—Buddy Mikaere
They didn't know how he'd died, where he had fallen — nor where he lay. There was no gravestone for Sonny. No place to visit. No place to mourn.
The New Zealand Settlements Act of 1863 “was part of a package of measures passed by the all-Pākehā parliament to crush Māori independence.”
“We come with solemn sadness that the events of the past have cast such a long shadow on the generations that have followed, and left a legacy of injustice and controversy."
Historian Alistair Reese backgrounds the history behind last weekend's apology from the Anglican Church to Tauranga tangata whenua for the betrayal that led to the loss of their land.
“The first land purchase began here in Otago in 1844 and, within 50 years, Kāi Tahu were virtually landless."—Mike Stevens, historian and Bluffie.
Māori communities had their own ways of resolving conflict and anti-social behaviour, writes Kim Workman, in this extract from his memoir “Journey Towards Justice”.
This is too important to leave to the whims of individual schools and teachers.
We often think of He Whakaputanga as the poor cousin, the runner-up, of constitutional documents. But He Whakaputanga has been a force in the north for a long time.
“Parihaka was a place and an event that could be lost and found, over and over. It moved into view, then disappeared, just like the mountain.”— Rachel Buchanan.
"We were the last mothers of that generation. The last to go through before the cradle-to-grave welfare state came crashing down around us. After that, single mothers were further stigmatised — and life got much harder."
Remembering Koro Wetere — a dour, street-smart fighter for Māori rights.
My mother used to say: “Forgive thine enemies, my son, but write down their names.” You forgive and remember what you've got to do because you can't keep carrying those things forever.
The Great South Road was built in 1862 to carry a British army into the Waikato kingdom. When the British invaded the Waikato in 1863, soldiers shared the road with Māori refugees from Auckland. Scott Hamilton revisits that history in this excerpt from his book 'Ghost South Road'.
“As the arrests began, I was overwhelmed with emotion. Tears streamed down my face, not because I was scared or angry, but because, at that moment, there was nowhere in the world I’d rather have been than right there with those people.”
For a decade or more, there have been no marked gains in economic progress for Māori. Instead, there’s been stagnation and even some setbacks.
“The truth is that the Treaty settlements aren't that big. Initially, when the $1 billion fiscal cap for the settlements was announced, I calculated that what was needed was in fact around $100 billion. So Māori are getting a very small contribution.”
Remembering the mother of the nation, Whina Cooper — a tough, uncompromising mother who understood the power of protest and the political fray.
“For many Māori girls who grew up in Rotorua during the 1960s, the guides were our heroes. Our superwomen. Our warrior princesses.”
“The same courage that saw us move back to Tauranga Moana after an absence of many generations is needed again to take this next step. To finally be invested completely in the whenua of our ancestors. Our branch of the Bidois whānau will have a foothold again.”
Kennedy Warne finds a connection between Parihaka and a memorial to the thousands of African-Americans who suffered the horror of death by lynching.
Why do we always seem to be looking overseas for our heroines and heroes when we have so many right here at home — in our own family histories and in our hearts?
He Whakaputanga — The Declaration of Independence of New Zealand, 1835 — has often been regarded...
I remember a few more over the last couple of decades in Wellington as attendance at such...
Not long ago, a group of graduate students had an impassioned discussion about an obelisk. It was...
Thanks to the generosity of Bridget Williams Books, here are two excerpts from a book launched...
On Friday, at the historic Parihaka reconciliation ceremony, the Crown finally apologised to the...
The government’s apologies in recent settlement bills are powerful statements, but they do not...
In this extract from his book The Stolen Island: Searching for ‘Ata, Scott Hamilton tells...
This is an edited extract from The Great War for New Zealand by Vincent O’Malley, published this...
From time to time, enthusiasts in towns around New Zealand band together to document the history...
This is an edited extract from The Great War for New Zealand by Vincent O’Malley, published this...
Vincent O'Malley is a New Zealand historian who, over the last 20 years, has been focusing on how Māori and Pākehā have been getting along. His research has led not just to a PhD from Victoria University but also to articles in scholarly journals, blogs, and a series of influential books.
Moana Jackson is a Wellington-based lawyer with a Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Porou whakapapa. For...
A proposed bill to allow leaseholders to freehold land in Waitara is the latest incarnation of a...
It’s tough being a revolutionary when you need parental permission to leave the house. That’s how...
Tamsin Hanly has been in the news lately because of what she’s doing to help ensure that our kids...
This Sunday, 100 years ago, a notorious arrest took place. It happened at Maungapōhatu — Tūhoe’s...
Three events in my lifetime have shaken my belief in the world. Each of them, for me, made...
Not for the first time, Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu has caught the attention of a host of people – this...
Why are we learning everything white? And there’s nothing brown?
There is no shame in us pausing to grieve over the horrors and waste of human life in our...
I was apprehensive taking part in a documentary called The Trouble with Murder that screened a few...
Let’s suppose the history of the Treaty of Waitangi reads like a balance sheet. We would...
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