What is Waitangi Day?
Is Waitangi Day a day to celebrate the birth of our nation? Or is it a day to mourn the ways in which the Treaty has not been honoured, and the ways Māori communities have suffered the consequences of colonisation?
Waitangi Day should be more than a day off work — it deserves to be commemorated in a way that acknowledges the Māori rangatira and Crown representatives who signed the Treaty of Waitangi/ Te Tiriti o Waitangi on 6 February 1840.
Screening of Bishop Vercoe’s 1990 speech
Join us for a screening of Bishop Vercoe’s 1990 Waitangi Day speech, after which guest speakers Kura Moeahu and Samuel Carpenter will discuss celebrating, commemorating and commiserating Waitangi Day. They will share their experiences and talk about what they are doing for Waitangi Day.
This footage is part of Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision’s collection and is supplied courtesy of Bishop Vercoe’s whānau and Television New Zealand.
This talk offers a Māori and a Pākehā perspective, giving insight on how we as New Zealanders might approach commemorating Waitangi Day 2021.
Family friendly event
All welcome! This is a family friendly event, activities for tamariki are available to entertain littlies during the talk.
This event marks the launch of our E Oho! Waitangi Series 2021.
Oho means awake, arise, rear up; fruitful, productive. By attending the E oho events, we hope to you will be woken up to the contemporary issues of the Treaty and have fruitful discussions.
About the speakers
Kura Moeahu (Te Ātiawa) has been actively involved in iwi governance as both a chair and board member, including as Chair of Te Rūnanga o Te Ātiawa, the Waiwhetu Marae Trust, the Harbour Island Kaitiaki Board, and Waiwhetu Pa Reserve Trust. As a member of the Weltec Māori Advisory Board, he was instrumental in establishing Te Auaha, the NZ Institute of Creativity and is widely recognised for his knowledge of te ao Māori, tikanga Māori and Māori arts. He is currently Parliament’s Tumu Whakarae.
Samuel Carpenter is a founding member and trustee of Karuwhā Trust, a New Zealand charity that seeks to engage Aotearoa New Zealand in a conversation about identity and history. The Trust facilitates groups of people to travel to Waitangi for commemorations, and recently began facilitating haerenga (journeys) to other parts of the country. After completing an M.A. thesis (history) Samuel Carpenter worked for the Waitangi Tribunal, followed by the Office of Treaty Settlements (as a senior historian). He has recently submitted a Ph.D. thesis exploring early New Zealand political texts.
