The slow build to remember our nation's wars

Friday, 27 October 2017

Former Otorohanga College student Waimarama Anderson helped deliver the NZ Wars petition to Parliament.

It's a history written by the victors.

But to look around Hamilton, you'd barely know the New Zealand 19th-century Land Wars ever happened.

Ngāti Wairere historian Wiremu Puke said Hamilton has been in denial over its colonial past.

The city is bereft of memorials to the war for Waikato. There is the Memorial Bridge and Memorial Park, a statue of Sapper Horace Moore-Jones, the Tongue of the Dog and Riff-Raff statue.

'Hamilton, largely, has really been in denial of the Land War period, particularly in the way it affected us,' said Ngāti Wairere historian Wiremu Puke.

Author Witi Ihimaera did a marae launch of his book Sleeps Standing.

Ngāti Manuhiri Trust CEO Mook Hohneck said iwi need to support each other to make events happen.

* Waikato Wars: Red ribbons for fallen Kiingitanga fighters

Until today.

Ngāti Maniapoto kaumatua Tom Roa is waiting until next year to kick of Waikato's big commemorations.

October 28 marks the first national day of remembrance of the New Zealand Wars - periods of conflict in the 1840s and 1860s over sovereignty and land which led to battles between government forces and some iwi.

It took three years of lobbying and included a petition of 12,000 signatures collated by Otorohanga College students and delivered to Parliament in December 2015, the return of title to Rangiriri in North Waikato and extensive discussions over other battles sites.

Former Otorohanga College student Waimarama Anderson was instrumental in delivering the petition.

'I'm honoured, proud - excited, actually - because we're acknowledging those who fell and our history of what happened in our own country,' Anderson said.

Waikato was the largest of several campaigns which spread from Northland to Taranaki, Bay of Plenty and the South Island.

British militia set up camp near the Waikato River in Hamilton. Parks and streets in Hamilton East are named after many of them.

Steele Park is ringed with oak trees dedicated to fallen British fighters but on Saturday, in a retelling of history, those trees will be draped with red ribbons bearing names of fallen Kīngitanga fighters instead.

It's a small step in the right direction, said Puke.

'Not so much now but there was a blatant lack of acknowledgement of that pre-Land War history and for those of the hapū who fought at Rangiriri, it will the first time their names will be referred to.'

On Thursday, organiser of the community-led red-ribbon event, Bruce MacKay, criticised the city for its lack of Waikato War memorial parks and installation when he said: 'There's not even a park name for any of the Waikato Wars or a statue of any major figures, yet here we are putting up another statue of a horse for World War I.'

The TOTI Charitable Trust is installing the World War I horse statue in the city. Chairman Dr Bill McArthur said the New Zealand Wars are in the picture.

'As I am reading it, we've got a lot of Treaty settlements going and a lot happening and you've got to be quite diplomatic, otherwise you leave somebody out,' McArthur said.

'It will happen. I am sure of it.'

Still, you'd barely know it was the first national day recognising New Zealand's civil wars and the several thousand people who died - neither Waikato District Council nor Hamilton City Council are holding any sort of civic ceremony.

Waipā, where the seminal battle for Ōrākau took place in 1864, is holding a church service and bus tours, Waipā District Mayor Jim Mylchreest said.

A number of the battles happened in Waipā.

'It's part of the importance of Waipā and the New Zealand Wars, in terms of the battle sites and historic sites around the district,' Mylchreest said.

Te Taitokerau tribes in Northland were meant to hold the first official national commemoration, but it fell through.

That failure to deliver was a topic of conversation at a pōwhiri at Mangatoatoa Marae in the King Country where author Witi Ihimaera launched his new book, based on the battle of Ōrākau, called Sleeps Standing.

North Auckland-based Ngāti Manuhiri took in refugees from the Rangiriri battle. Ngāti Manuhiri Settlement Trust chief executive Mook Hohneck said iwi need to support each other to get events off the ground.

'That's just part and parcel of the logistics,' Hohneck said. 'There are some important moments in history in the north that need to be portrayed in the right light.

In a post-settlement environment - after Crown apologies are given and iwi and hapū have moved on from grievance - the full story of the wars can be told.

'We're in a starting position. I think we are building for the future. The recognition is the first step. Whether there are a lot of events on to celebrate or whether there are only a few is irrelevant. It's the kaupapa [cause] and we are building on it.'

Ngāti Maniapoto kaumatua Tom Roa said no one in Waikato has missed the boat on the remembrance day.

'For me, I didn't want anything spectacular in Hamilton taking away from the events up north, but they aren't having anything of any particular moment. They are having a small function at Ruapekapeka,' Roa said.

'We've just playing it quietly in Waikato, but leaning towards next year with the 160th year of the Kīngitanga.'

'We are building slowly. We are not going to jump into anything that might quickly fizzle out. We want to build it so that catchcry of 'We must remember' is, in fact, remembering and not just a quick memorialising until the next year.'