In 1990, Māori people did have one major success to recall. In the decade prior to 1990, Māori art and performance had gone global, via the Te Māori exhibition, with stunning success. By 1990, wrote Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, the connections between the Maāri art and...
As with the building of waka and the sponsoring of ‘the year of the waka’, acknowledging the Treaty of Waitangi was achieved in many different ways during 1990, emphasising once again its centrality within the Sesquentenary celebrations. In October, the Alexander...
Eddie Durie’s hope that a ‘new beginning’ might dawn upon the Crown’s relationship with Maori was well stated and shared by all Maori who looked to the Treaty of Waitangi for guidance, knowing full well that its potential for providing restorative justice lay entirely...
Throughout the 1990s, claims continued to be filed with the Waitangi Tribunal at a hectic pace with Māori continuing to place confidence in the Tribunal, especially with Jurist Eddie Durie appointed as Chairman of a much-expanded Tribunal membership. One issue...
When Winston Peters took office as Minister, the Department of Maori Affairs had just been abolished, on 1 September 1989. Ministries in flux Maori at large had opposed the abolition which removed 1100 people with years of collective experience from their mediating...
Maori opinion on such issues was equally divergent. However, Maori were always conscious of historical issues, politics and the Treaty. Despite the high rhetoric of the 1990 commemoration – ‘a year to remember, to reflect and to look ahead to a new horizon’ – a harsh...
The largest community event of them all in 1990 however was hosted in Auckland, the XIV1990 Commonwealth Games. New Zealand had hosted these Games only twice before. 2826 athletes and officials from 55 participating Commonwealth nations attended, setting a new...
As with the people of Tokorangi Marae in Fielding, communities all over New Zealand responded to the call to preserve their historical memories, especially by renovating and restoring buildings to their former glory. Onga Onga - Hawkes Bay One example...
Notes from Georgetown Whilst teaching a course on New Zealand history at Georgetown University in Washington DC in 2009, I was able to briefly introduce the topic of New Zealand's sesquicentenary 1990 to an amazing group of 35 young American students....
In view of the scale and rapidity of the social change New Zealand had been through since the 1970s, this extensive ‘navel-gazing’ after 1990 was not surprising. Writing about identity Many books were published embracing these themes in 1990. One notable example was...
During next year, 2020, we will commemorate many past events. One that might get overlooked is the Sesquicentenary of 1990 which of course was quite an event, at the time at least. New Zealanders were asked to reflect on what it meant to be a New Zealander, especially...
The essay below, which assesses some of the recent literature on Parihaka, was included in the original draft of the book Te Whiti O Rongomai and the Resistance of Parihaka (Huia, 2015). However, at the request of the publisher, the first draft was...
The New Zealand Wars are everywhere these days - newspapers, magazines, monographs, radio, television, apps .. historians new to the field are making all kinds of amazing discoveries, going public with breathless pronouncements and photo-ops. It's all very...
The shootings in Christchurch on Friday 15 March 2019 were shocking, of course. Our Muslim community has been rightly embraced as family, especially by Ngai Tahu rangatira and whānau of Te Waiponamu. The 1st April issue of TIME magazine has an...
A new book on the New Zealand Wars has been released - Tutu Te Peuhu, New Perspectives on the New Zealand Wars. This new book was launched at Parliament in Wellington on 23 October 2018. On hand to do the honours were Hon Ron Mark, Minister of...
The sad passing of Koro Wetere on 23 June 2018 marked quite a milestone for Māori politics, and Māori history. As a Minister in the reforming Fourth Labour Government, Wetere had his hands on significant pieces of legislation, not least that affecting the Waitangi...