Tamsin Hanly has been in the news lately because of what she’s doing to help ensure that our kids don’t miss out on New Zealand history. You might assume that it’s the responsibility of the Ministry of Education to see that all school students learn about our country’s past and, in the process, come to understand our present-day society.
The ministry says that’s not so. Instead, the official line is that it’s up to each board of trustees to decide what should be in a school’s curriculum. Tamsin doesn’t see that as an especially effective way of educating each new generation of Kiwis. So she set about producing a history curriculum and resource material — to help teachers teach the history that most of them had never learned. She has now published that in the form of six books, funded by a mortgage on the family home. And that’s had Dale wondering why Tamsin has stuck with such a demanding project.
Kia ora Tamsin. This undertaking of yours has been really substantial. So you must’ve felt strongly about the way the school system allows history to be so badly neglected in our schools.
I’m Ngāti Pākehā with an Irish and English whakapapa. And I went to mainstream schools in Auckland all my life. I loved school, too. But, when I left, I knew nothing about things Māori. Nothing about Māori people, Māori language or the Treaty. No awareness of our real history.
But then, when I was 18, I hit Bastion Point — and that started me on a journey, which I’m still on, to learn about te ao Māori, te reo Māori, the Treaty and about being Pākehā. And to learn accurate histories.
So I decided to become a teacher and help young children avoid going through what I’d gone through.
My education hadn’t prepared me to be an informed citizen who could understand, or be actively involved in, the civil issues of the day. Certainly not anything to do with the Treaty. I felt angry that the education system had let me down.
And one of the consequences has been the six books I’ve just published to help our teachers. It’s called A Critical Guide to Māori and Pākehā Histories.
That course of action was quite a feisty response. I suspect that you’ve inherited at least a few feisty genes from your parents. Can you tell me a bit about your family?
My dad, Pat Hanly, was an artist, a famous painter, who died in 2004. And Gil, my mum, was, and still is, a photographer. She’s mainly been a documentary photographer and she’s covered many of the protest movements, especially the Māori struggles. So we grew up in an artistic, creative and also a quite political sort of family. Both my parents were pretty active politically. My mum still is. We lived in an old villa in Mt Eden and we were all involved in the issues of the day. I remember going on protest marches when we were very little, up and down Queen Street.
And our children have also had a very politicised upbringing. They’ve been involved in social justice issues since they were babies. Now our mokopuna are in kōhanga and kapa haka. I have two whāngai Māori sons and a Pākehā daughter by birth. We’ve got a lovely complicated family.
Earlier you spoke of your decision to become a teacher. So that’s what you’ve been doing through the years?
Yes. I taught for 25 years in both mainstream and Māori pathways. And 17 of those years were at Newton Central primary school in Auckland. When I was there, I taught a good deal of New Zealand history. But I didn’t know of anyone else who was teaching that sort of content.
So I began doing a Masters degree with the question: “Are primary school teachers teaching New Zealand histories?”
Of course, the answer was mostly not. Or teachers were mostly telling a standard, colonial story — a collection of inaccurate histories.
So, with those results from the MA, I went back to Newton Central and wrote a curriculum for our staff. And that’s been in operation at Newton Central since 2009. All the photos in the books that we’ve just launched, come from those years of work at Newton.
In 2012, I wanted to get this curriculum into other schools too. So I worked part-time at Auckland University in the Faculty of Education, Māori Department. I work there now. And I began to rewrite the curriculum in a more academic way.
That’s when I took the time to read Anne Salmond and James Belich, as well as Michael King, Ranginui Walker, Claudia Orange, Judith Binney and Ingrid Huygens — all these amazing historians. And I spent four years writing this curriculum.
In that time, I did apply for funding, but I gave up in the end. I went four times to see the Ministry of Education to ask them for funding. Their answer was that they don’t fund curriculum writing. They told me to go private.
So that’s what we were forced to do. We put a mortgage on our family home — and, over four years, we’ve produced these six books for the teachers who don’t know much about New Zealand history.
It’s really a beginner’s guide. And it goes from the the Māori origin story — right through to their arrival here in Aotearoa and becoming tangata whenua.
Then it traces the story of Pākehā coming from Europe. There’s a wonderful unit on Europe and about their sailors, like Tasman and Cook, who found that they didn’t discover Aotearoa — because Māori had already discovered it. And in Unit 3, those two worlds meet. So you’ve honoured both worlds. Māori worldviews. Then Pākehā worldviews. And then those two worlds meet.
Next, I suppose, the story moves on to the events that led to the Treaty of Waitangi?
Yes. There’s a period when Māori, who were seeking literacy, wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1835. In that Declaration, Māori claimed their sovereignty — and Britain recognised their sovereignty.
Unit 4 covers what’s in the Māori text of the Treaty of Waitangi and explains that’s actually the document that the two sovereign groups signed and agreed to — allowing Pākehā to live here but also ensuring that Māori sovereignty continued. In this unit there’s also an explanation about how the English version was introduced. Its interpretation was that Māori had ceded sovereignty to the Crown — which they hadn’t.
Then Unit 5 looks at Pākehā culture and also at the Pākehā laws that have been used to transgress the Treaty agreements. And Unit 6 is the final book which goes from the first encounter that Māori had with Pākehā in the 1820s, right through to the TPPA.
It’s a really comprehensive timeline. And it’ll help teachers become well enough informed to teach their kids what they’ve probably missed out on themselves.
All ethnicities in New Zealand should know this basic historical information.
I wonder what reaction you’ve had from your peers in the teaching profession. Some of them may have seen you as a leftie. Or a liberal. Or unduly pro-Māori. And perhaps some may have felt that the material should’ve been shaped for high school students.
Well, I’m a primary school teacher and I know primary school teachers who’re not covering this content at all and really need guidance. But the whole package is designed so that secondary schools — and early childhood centres too — can do the same professional development for their teachers. When teachers read the six books, they can understand what’s happened in this country and why it’s happened.
At the moment, most of our citizens don’t know that — and neither do most of our teachers. And they don’t understand why there is this ignorance. One reason is that it’s part of colonisation. It’s absolutely deliberate that we don’t learn the accurate histories of our country.
As for criticism from my peers — well, I haven’t hit any sort of negative feedback. If people aren’t interested, they generally will just say that. And I don’t persevere after that. You can’t force them. But, if the senior staff in our schools can commit their teachers to read this material, there’ll be some transformations in our educators and in our classrooms.
Back in the day, there were some principals and teachers who were opposed to the Treaty workshops. And perhaps there’ll still be those who don’t see the point. I hope those attitudes have changed. But how damaging is it for us to do nothing and keep perpetuating this inter-generational ignorance?
Just over a year ago, our Prime Minister, John Key, said that, in his view, “New Zealand was one of the very few countries in the world that were settled peacefully.” And the media didn’t call him out on that. But when I heard him, I thought: “Wow. That’s our Prime Minister. He doesn’t know our history.” So, even at our top level, you’ve got a person who’s ignorant about that. And that’s a terrible situation because his ignorance impacts on all the decisions he makes.
Then, recently, I saw Hekia Parata on television speaking about the petition to include the New Zealand Wars in the school curriculum. She said they wouldn’t put the wars in the curriculum because that would stop schools being able to decide for themselves what should be taught.
That stance is quite common in neo-liberal governments where they shift the responsibility for determining curriculum from the state to the school boards and the communities and teachers. To some degree, that’s useful because it does allow schools to make choices.
But the research that Mark Sheehan from Victoria University and I have done demonstrates that schools avoid what they think could be controversial — and they avoid anything they know little about.
They choose safe topics. They don’t do colonisation. Under the primary school curriculum, the Treaty isn’t mentioned. The two worldviews that created the Treaty aren’t mentioned. Nor are the years since 1840. There are primary schools that don’t cover anything to do with Māori-Pākehā relationships. And that neglect can carry on into secondary school.
Most other nations make a priority of teaching their own history. But, here in Aotearoa, our kids are likely to know more about Kate and William and Harry than they do about the Kingitanga. Under the present system, we’re producing continuous generations of ignorance — and historical amnesia. It really is a desperate situation.
Tamsin Hanly on Radio New Zealand
Bastion Point: The Untold Story
A Critical Guide to Māori and Pākehā Histories
Thank you for reading E-Tangata. If you like our focus on Māori and Pasifika stories, interviews, and commentary, we need your help. Our content takes skill, long hours and hard work. But we're a small team and not-for-profit, so we need the support of our readers to keep going.
If you support our kaupapa and want to see us continue, please consider making a one-off donation or contributing $5 or $10 a month.
I agree with Quentin Poulsen
I agree with Quentin Poulsen on many of his assertions but not with his assertion that the “cultural genocide” inflicted on New Zealand was based on “British values”. This is incorrect. The values he so aptly derides are peculiarly “English”, i.e. those values rooted in the English class system. Scots and Irish inhabitants of the “British Isles” have historically always been treated in the same dismissive manner as as the “Colonials” of New Zealand. One does not have to meet many English to encounter the same closed opinions and condescending attitudes, and ignorance of New Zealand, which lie at the root of Quentin’s legitimate comment. A notable characteristic of the early settlers was their sense of egalitarianism and of building a “new” society and their rejection of the English. Having worked with the British in different international locations throughout my life, I have been able to observe the distinctions between classes of Britons, and their imported attitudes – the same which render our society increasingly fractious and divided by race and by culture.
There was a cultural genocide
There was a cultural genocide in New Zealand for much of the twentieth century, led by the education system and state media (notably TV when it arrived), and consolidated by the corporate revolution and mass migration to the urban centres – which were based entirely on British values.
Wekenerū. Tautoko tā mahi e
Wekenerū. Tautoko tā mahi e hoa !
Tena koe Tamsin
Tena koe Tamsin
I’ve grown to enjoy reading articles like yours on face book. I grew up in the sixties it was an eye opener on many levels growing up as maori during those times. From an early age I notice there were no books of maori history, remembering as young as 6yrs old asking my mothetr why there were no books on maori. Over the years our mother opened our eyes to many things and really educated my brothers and sisters and I herself. We were bought up very similar to you interested in the political arena a lot of things came out when our mother was one of those very earlier on in the process, whom put a submission into the Waitangi Tribunal, it’s been a sad journey that you would not want your tamariki nor your mokopuna to go through. One thing it has done it has enabled us as a people to leave a record of the breaches and our history on record. It’s sad that our people had to go through this system to do that. I just wanted to acknowledge you for putting your story out there my whanau and I would love to see our history of the tangata whenua and pakeha history taught in our schools. Nga mihi ki a koe a Tamsin.
Having an awareness and
Having an awareness and understanding of NZ history is important but equally so are the values, concepts and perspectives we use to assist students to learn about NZ history. Also important is how our history shapes our current society and interactions as well as our future.
Tena koe Tamsin. Awesome
Tena koe Tamsin. Awesome korero and your continued mahi. Many of our whanau are ‘ blended’ particulary having foster or whangai tamariki in our homes. Could you please provide me with the link to your resources. My husband and I 110% agree with what you are wanting to achieve and the proof is in the pudding – that you mortgaged your own home to get the resources required. I probably know of only well I can count them on one hand who have commited their personal contribution to achieving better outcomes for our whanau. Ka pai to mahi – wahine toa. We currently reside in Oz so getting these resources may be an opportunity to ‘ pass along’ to other whanau here giving their tamariki the chance to know of their heritage… Mauri ora.
Ka pai Tamsin! Awesome Mahi –
Ka pai Tamsin! Awesome Mahi – and a flashback for me. In the late 80s, Barbara Menzies and I spent two years doing a similar series for students, ably abetted by some very great thinkers who peer reviewed and assisted with the researc. I think we did 10-12 journals for Kia Mohio Kia Marama Trust, each focusing on a specific subject like Land, Politics, Law etc – it was presented in almost a comic form (my dodgy bush-artist artwork). Not a lot of pick-up from schools, libraries did better. Thank u so much for your incredible commitment and energy – my love to your beautiful mother.
I wrote a paper in 2014 ( in
I wrote a paper in 2014 ( in print ) about the history of “Maori Politics and Religion from a Maori Atheist Perspective “focusing on the devastating affect that Christianity had on our culture, & the clear directive from Britain on their assimilate or exterminate pollicy. I focus on the greed of the colonisers, & the diseases that they brought to this country, which killed almost half of our population.
Many historians and Missionaries judged our culture through a biblical frame, seeing themselves and their own culture as superior, ignoring the horrific wars, and torture that they have been part of for thousands of years.
I look forward to reading your books.
Great. This could also apply
Great. This could also apply to us in Barbados and the Caribbean.
Kia Ora Tamsin, What an
Kia Ora Tamsin, What an awesome awesome read, the truth always hurt, it was always racist when I was growing up, always been in our little country, but its people like you that go out of you way to search for something that was always there, but ignored, I too would love to know how do I find your books for my children & their children and so on. Yes teach our children in schools about our country Aotearoa. Nga Mihi.
Kia ora Alamein,
Kia ora Alamein,
thanks for your email.
Yes you can go to our website http://www.criticalhistories.nz
and contact me at tamsinhanly@xtra.co.nz about the CPR
Tamsin Hanly
As a primary school teacher
As a primary school teacher and resource maker I would love to know where I can get my hands on these books. Such a brilliant idea. So heartened. But at the same time so sad that our racist ideologies prevent the truth from being taught to our children. We have to live with integrity and stop whitewashing everything.
Kia ora Mel! Here is link
Kia ora Mel! Here is link through which you can order the resource. Ngā mihi! http://cmph.cybersoul.co.nz/contact.html
Thanks Vinny
Thanks Vinny
Hi Mel,
Hi Mel,
thanks for your email.
Yes you can go to our website http://www.criticalhistories.nz
and contact me at tamsinhanly@xtra.co.nz about the CPR
Tamsin Hanly
Fascinating read.
Fascinating read. Congratulations to Tamsin Hanly on her achievement, and to her commitment and dedication to a project which absolutely needs to be included in the school curriculum. At 50 years of age, myself a Pakeha with two Maori children, I am often reminded of my own ignorance in regards to the history of our country and its people. I for one would love to read her books, and should they ever become available to the public, would be keen to locate them. In the meantime, it’s never to late to gain knowledge, so have registered for a Te Reo course as a stepping stone on my own oath.
Hi Janet,
Hi Janet,
thanks for your comment.
You can request your library for them.
Tamsin
I am so heartened by what I
I am so heartened by what I have read about your work. I am a pakeha and have been involved in teaching NZ history for many years but now I cringe at how random, shallow and misleading the Maori/Pakeha content was. As a young teacher in an intermediate school in Hamilton, I found a box of journals rejected and thrown into a building cavity. When I explored the unread journals I noticed the lead article contained the story of Parihaka… I am currently studying at Unitec and do believe eyes and hearts are opening towards a more truthful engagement with our history. However we are a long way from claiming integrity for this in our education system unless we are speaking in abosolute truths in what we teach in our schools. Thank you Tamsin Hanly for your strength and drive in taking a stand and living your beliefs.
Thanks for your comments Sue.
Thanks for your comments Sue.
Tamsin
Wow sounds fantastic. Where
Wow sounds fantastic. Where do I get these books/resources from? Would love to read them. As a primary school teacher, I have taught my students, over the years, little snippets of what I know about local history about Māori and Pākehā relationships but never on the scale it deserves or should I say as my students deserve. If I think about it, it is probably because I don’t know enough myself and how do I back myself without factual knowledge.
Thank you for this info. I would love to know where I can obtain access to these nooks and or school resources.
Ngā mihi ki a koe Tamsin.
Nā Libby H
Kia ora Libby! Here is link
Kia ora Libby! Here is link through which you can order the resource. Ngā mihi! http://cmph.cybersoul.co.nz/contact.html
Hi Libby,
Hi Libby,
thanks for your email.
Yes you can go to our website http://www.criticalhistories.nz
and contact me at tamsinhanly@xtra.co.nz about the CPR
Tamsin Hanly
Wow Tamsin, in my book you
Wow Tamsin, in my book you are a legend, AND SO RIGHT! I believe for kids to go through school without any history of the nation they live in is a disgrace and sews the seeds of disharmony far more than knowing the truths of events that occurred. Knowing history enables understanding and reconciliation and forgiveness that this was history, however, covering it up by few people knowing history and others totally ignorant fuels discord, intolerance and conflict. Light is better than the absence of it: Light shone on everything is far better in almost everything in life over the malignancy of darkness!