History is an endless negotiation between the past and the present. –Simon Sharma

In this issue

  • Thanks to Andy Oakley who spoke in February.
  • The upcoming March session – John McLean on Parihaka: The Facts – Tuesday 30 March (Note the change in date from our earlier notification.)
  • Other talks coming up. 
  • The proposed Year 1-10 History Curriculum
  • New Zealand Apartheid.

Thanks to our February speaker: Andy Oakley 

Andy gave a highly intersting and thought provoking talk on the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi and spelled out that there is only one true treaty – Tiriti o Waitangi signed in 1840. The English draft used to formulate Tiriti in the Nga Puhi dialect is the Littlewood treaty discovered in 1989. After clearly explaining the wording of Tiriti and emphasizing that it was made with “all the people of New Zealand”, he outlined his attempt to make a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal where he ran into the wall of having to prove his credential as a member of the Maori race.  A lively discussion followed the talk.
Our March Speaker – John McLean

The activities in the South Taranaki Maori settlement and its occupation by the Armed Constabulary on 5 November 1881 have a special place in our history. It features prominently in history books and online, and is often mentioned by the media. Parihaka is commemorated in music, drama, art and dance and there is even a Parihaka Day called the “Day of Plunder”. 

Te Whiti and fellow Parihaka prophet, Tohu, are seen as iconic heroes from the late nineteenth century, preaching peace and standing up to an unreasonable and oppressive government. But have we been getting a full and balanced account of Parihaka and its history? 

In 2020 John McLean wrote the book, Parihaka; the Facts and this will be the basis of his talk to the Historical Society.  “I will outline the efforts of Te Whiti to establish at Parihaka a quasi-republic independent of the laws of the rest of New Zealand and explain why such a scheme was destined to fail.”

Using the observations of Maori and non-Maori from the time, the words of Te Whiti himself, contemporary newspaper reports and accounts by eminent historians such as James Cowan, John McLean will set out to untangle the myths and set the record straight.

  • Tuesday 30 March at 7.30pm
  • Kapiti Uniting Church, 10 Weka Road, Raumati Beach.
  • Gold coin koha. Thanks. 
  • A light supper will be served following the talk.

Coming up in April

Tuesday 20 April – Roger Childs talking on the topic of Gallipoli – Myth and Reality. Should the disastrous Gallipoli campaign have such an important place in our history and did the actions of our forces on the peninsula play a key role in establishing New Zealand’s identity?

History Ideas to Confound and Indoctrinate our Youngsters

Our neighbours’ 4 year old daughter is off to school later in the year. She chatters away about family, friends, scooters, toys, and clothes, but is she ready for ideas like

  • Maori history is the foundational and continuous history of Aotearoa New Zealand.
  • Colonization and its consequences have been central to our history for the past 200 years and continue to influence all aspects of New Zealand society.
  • The course of Aotearoa New Zealand history has been shaped by the exercise and effects of power?

All New Zealanders need to be concerned about the slant on New Zealand history that is very likely to be inflicted on our 5 to15 year olds from next year. The proposed new curriculum is now out for comment. 

(For the rest of the article, see https://waikanaewatch.org/2021/03/04/the-new-nz-history-curriculum-for-schools-draft-1-proposals-and-big-ideas/)

Increasing separatism?

We should live together as one people; equal under the law, guided by the recognition and belief that we are one humanity our shared planet. We do not.

Many New Zealanders hold to very different ideas; they think separately, meeting in racially separated hui and Waitangi Tribunal hearings, building grievance, demanding and getting money, assets and power.

(For the rest of the article, see

The Jacinda government’s further steps towards race-based Apartheid

Roger Childs and John Robinson