New Zealand Exemplary in Embracing Indigenous Culture
“Can you imagine NBA players performing a Native American grass dance in an act of team solidarity and national unity? In New Zealand, no one bats an eye,” writes Morgan Godfery in…
Tag Archives: Waitangi Day
New Zealand: the Other Half of the Anzac Legend
As the centenary of the Gallipoli landings approaches Australians need to consider the other half of the ANZAC acronym, University of Sydney history professor Mark McKenna writes for the Conversation. The rise of Anzac…
Sheep, Lizards and Hobbits
February 6 is New Zealand’s national day. Known as Waitangi Day, it marks the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 between the British Crown and the Maori, New Zealand’s first peoples. Britain’s…
Te Ruki Kawiti
“In an English fort the ditch is deep, and outside the defences; in a New Zealand pa the ditch is shallow, and inside the palisades. In an English fort, the ditch is made to…
Te Reo Quandary
Justice Joe Williams who is chairing an inquiry by the Waitangi Tribunal says the Maori language is in “crisis” and only urgent action will halt its decline. As older speakers of Maori die…
Progress Continues
The New Zealand Government’s recent endorsement of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has been welcomed by UN indigenous human rights expert Professor James Anaya, who says good progress is being…
To Scrap or not to Scrap
The New Zealand Herald has called for the country’s 108-year-old-flag to be scrapped. Under the banner headline “It’s time for a change”, The New Zealand Herald, the country’s largest circulating daily newspaper, devoted almost its…
Shaking off the Shackles
Waitangi Day is also World Nude Day, a day which originated in New Zealand and which this year promoted itself with the slogan “Nude not Lewd” and a US$10,000 “in gold” online prize for…
21st century renewal
Wellington’s Waitangi Park – transformed in a collaboration between landscape architects Wraight & Associates and Athfield Architects – combines environmentally-sound urban redevelopment with recreation, and includes water purifying ponds, man-made wetlands and a concrete…
The Cycle of Life
At home, the colour of the grapes has changed rapidly. In December they were a wistful light green and now, swollen with juice, they are rich …
Potential World Heritage Sites in NZ
UNESCO is considering three NZ locations as potential World Heritage Sites at the request of PM Helen Clark, who is also NZ’s Minister of Culture and Heritage. The Waitangi Treaty Grounds, Kerikeri Basin and…
Northern Delights
Vancouver’s North Shore News featured a travel special on NZ’s North Island. In the Bay of Islands, the writer used the Eagles Nest villa complex as a luxurious base for sailing with dolphins, taking bush walks and…
Lord Cooke of Thorndon: A Legal Great
Robin Brunskill Cooke, NZ’s most renowned jurist, has died aged 80. Educated at Wellington’s Victoria University and Caius College at Cambridge, Robin Cooke made his reputation early on with a high profile libel case…
Queen Mourned, King Crowned
The Maori Queen, Dame Te Atairangikaahu died on Tuesday 15 August aged 75 after a 40-year reign. Dame Te Atairangikaahu was the sixth monarch of the North Island tribes who formed the King movement…
Self, Race, Drugs & Justice in New Zealand
Self, Race, Drugs & Justice in New Zealand In the Hawke’s Bay the heavy early morning dew – ‘Heretaunga haukunui’ the Maori call it – carries the chill signal of approaching autumn. Already the seasons…
Te Reo On Air
BBC notes the launch of NZ’s first nationwide Maori language TV station. The inaugural broadcast comes 13 years after the Supreme Court ruled that the government was legally bound (by the Treaty of Waitangi) to protect its…
Judith Mayhew Jonas: Alpha female
14 December 2003 – Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas – former financial advisor to the Mayor of London, current Provost of Kings College, Cambridge, and chairman of the Royal Opera House – was one of nine “alpha females”…
Black and White or Rainbow Nation?
Kathy Marks visits Waitangi and gives an outside perspective on the state of the nation 162 years after the treaty: “New Zealand is truly a bicultural nation, and the sense of two races living…
Compensation Won
International interest raised by Waitangi Tribunal ruling on compensation for Moriori descendents of survivors of the 1835 Chathams massacre.
We Want Waitangi
Canadian victims of the Feb blues want a holiday, citing Waitangi day’s health-giving properties.
New Zealand Sets the Standard in How to Say Sorry
“The question of an official apology to the indigenous people which is proving so contentious in Australia, has been dealt with quite differently in New Zealand, as part of the settlement process initiated by the Waitangi Tribunal”….
