New Zealand Centennial Exhibition, Wellington 1939 - 1940

 

 New Zealand Centennial Exhibition sticker, 1929-1940

The First Labour Government, elected in 1935, saw the centennial of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1940 as an opportunity to celebrate New Zealand's national identity. But by September 1939 with the British declaration of war against the Germans, New Zealanders once again found that "where Britain goes, we go". It was a bitter pill to swallow decades later in the early 1970s, that where Britain went - the European Common Market, New Zealand couldn't. So much for dumb loyalty.

When the Sesquicentennial rolled around in 1990, New Zealand had moved on. The event itself turned out to be a damp squib. Assigned an area along the Wellington waterfront a free market Labour government 180 degrees turned around from the ethos of the First Labour government put up a half-hearted effort to celebrate given its policy platform of full cost recovery, outsourcing to the private sector, and the contentious public debate of the continuing role of the Treaty in modern New Zealand life. Attendance was abysmal. Auckland got the Commonwealth Games.

Some more advertising images for the 1940 Centennial - click on images for larger view:

 

 Travel poster pitched to overseas tourists

 

For those who wanted amusement rides - a map of the Fun of the Fair, 1940

Waitangi Day 6 February 2009

The official New Zealand flag

Introduced in 1869, adopted as the official flag in 1902. British blue ensign with a stylised Southern Cross representing Aotearoa-New Zealand's place in the Southern Pacific. Modern New Zealanders with few if any ties to Britain other than lingering sentimental ones for a few should surely throw away the Union Jack in the top left corner or completely redesign the flag.

Tino rangatiratanga flag

A 1990 competition for a new flag design for New Zealand failed to generate entries with Maori themes or identity. Maori then started their own flag competition and the result was the Tino rangatiratanga flag which for some within Maoridom has come to represent the aspirations for greater Maori sovereignty in contemporary New Zealand.

Black represents Te Korekore the realm of Potential Being, the long darkness from whence the world emerged. White represents Te Ao Marama the realm of and light. It is the physical world, which symbolises purity, harmony and enlightment.

Red represents Te Whei Ao, the realm of Coming into being. It symbolises female, active, flashing, south, yelling, forests, gestation and spirals. Red is Papatuanuku, Earth Mother, the sustainer of all living things. Red is the colour of earth from which the first humans was made.

The Koru, curling frond shape, represents the unfolding of new life, that everything is reborn and continues. It represents renewal and hope for the future.

Flag of the Confederation of Chiefs of the United Tribes of New Zealand
Shaw Savill Line postcard depicting the United Tribes Ensign, [19--],
Alexander Turnbull Library

The flag of the Confederation of Chiefs of the United Tribes of New Zealand, first raised in 1834 and gazetted in the New South Wales Gazette on 19 August 1835 as the flag of The United Tribes of New Zealand or Te Wakaminenga o¯ nga¯ Hapu o¯ Nu Tireni. It was New Zealand's official flag until the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 replaced it with the British Union Jack. Some within Maoridom want this flag to represent Maori aspirations today rather than the Tino rangatiratanga flag.

Whichever flag you wish to fly this Waitangi Day, celebrate New Zealand - Aotearoa and commemorate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi on 6 February 1840, the foundation document for contemporary New Zealand.

May tangata whenua (first peoples) and pakeha continue to improve their lot and better understand one another in the year ahead.

As the late John A Lee once remarked: "New Zealand is an easy place to love."

Tree Lords Law Passed - Central North Island Maori Claim Settlement

The New Zealand Parliament passed the Central North Island Forests Land Collective Settlement Act on 25 September that provides the largest Treaty of Waitangi claim settlement to date.

Seven central North Island iwi (Maori tribes) forming the collective are to receive $195.7m of crown forest land covering 176,000 hectares, plus about $223m in rentals that have accumulated on the land since 1989 and an annual income stream of $13m. The iwi represent over 100,000 tribal members.

The settlement only covers claims to Crown forest lands in the central North Island, but not other parts of claims the iwi may still have with the Crown. Only public land is involved in the settlement and public access to the forest land covered by the settlement will continue.

The iwi represented in the collective formed to negotiate the settlment with the Crown are Ngai Tuhoe, Ngati Tuwharetoa, Ngati Whakaue, Ngati Whare, Ngati Manawa, Raukawa and the affiliate Te Arawa Iwi and Hapu. An eighth iwi, Ngati Rangitihi, may yet join the settlement.

Note: the "Tree Lords" is a comparative reference to an earlier fisheries settlement that was commonly referred to as "Sealords" involving the joint venture purchase of a fisheries company Sealord as part of the earlier claim settlement.