Beyond the Edge Beyond the Bar: 13.04 Hamilton: Waitangi Day

Hamilton Lake Domain, Entrance

Last Wednesday was a legal holiday in New Zealand. On February 6, 1840 a treaty was signed at Waitangi, on the Bay of Islands, on the far north end of the North Island. The holiday, Waitangi Day, commemorates this treaty, signed between representatives of the British Crown and eventually over 500 Māori chiefs. The treaty in effect established the New Zealand polity that has developed, not without struggle, ever since. Beginning in 1947 there’s annually been a measure of observance of Waitangi Day in New Zealand and among New Zealand citizens abroad.

What does that measure amount to now? Over several days there are ceremonies august and celebratory on the Waitangi Treaty Grounds (administered by a trust). There’s even a 21-gun salute from a Royal New Zealand Navy frigate. Elsewhere there may a tip of the hat to the day, but seemingly there are no fireworks, no bands, no parades, and only scattered celebration. Reportedly Kiwis abroad celebrate in a big way. There are large expatriate Kiwi communities in London and in southeast Australia that celebrate the day. For Kiwis here in the homeland is this a day of celebration or a day to be passed in solemn remembrance? Or is it just another excuse for time off? Even now I’m not sure of its shape, perhaps because the holiday is still shaping up.

Consider for a moment the two other holidays of political or constitutional import in the New Zealand calendar. One of those holidays is the ‘Queen’s Birthday’, observed in New Zealand on the first Sunday of each June. This holiday is an official occasion for New Zealand to observe its ties to the British Crown. Queen Elizabeth II is New Zealand’s head of state, as will be her successors, so long as New Zealand wants this. New Zealand’s Prime Minister, currently John Key, is head of the government. While sharing a common language and much else with the United Kingdom, New Zealand is on its own as a sovereign nation, although it has many friends and no obvious enemies.

Friendship can at times be costly. New Zealand, not least because of its status as a ‘dominion’ in the British Empire, sent men to fight in both World Wars. It was the April 25, 1915 landing of Australian and New Zealand troops at Gallipoli, near the Ottoman capital of Constantinople (Istanbul), which marked the entry of both Australia and New Zealand as actors in international affairs. The soldiers of the two nations came ashore as soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (‘ANZAC’), fighting forces of the Ottoman Empire alongside British and French troops. A grueling 8-month campaign followed the landing. The casualty rates were very high on both sides (by at least one report, 88% for New Zealand's troops!). As has been argued in many places, the Gallipoli experience had a searing effect on the identity of the two nations-in-the-making, Australia and New Zealand. To this day both nations observe 25 April as ‘Anzac Day’, understandably a day of solemn remembrance in both countries.

The use of the term ‘Kiwi’ to designate someone of New Zealand origin stems from the Gallipoli campaign (and WWI). The New Zealand soldiers wore regimental badges upon which a kiwi was emblazoned. I suspect ‘Kiwi’ was originally cast at these soldiers as a term of mild derision. Subsequent events led to its becoming a moniker of honor. One never hears any such term as ‘New Zealandite’ or ‘Landy’. Despite its presence occasionally in print or on the Internet, ‘New Zealander’ doesn’t seem to be used in common discourse. ‘Kiwi’ is the standard term for someone from New Zealand and ‘Kiwi’ is the standard adjective for New Zealand things, doings, practices, and so forth. Which brings us back to Waitangi Day. Just where does it fit in any Kiwi constellation?

For a number of years in the late 19^th Century and during a good part of the 20^th Century, the Treaty of Waitangi was somewhat in legal limbo. In the late 20^th Century the treaty among other things became more relevant in settling legal matters. The annual observance of Waitangi Day, which the Royal New Zealand Navy initiated in 1947, probably had some role in this legal evolution. In any event in a key 1987 case adjudicated by New Zealand’s high Court of Appeal, the presiding judge described the treaty as providing certain ‘principles’, among them that the treaty established a ‘partnership’ and in that partnership the partners had and have an obligation to act reasonably and in good faith.

In a way the Treaty of Waitangi is less like a constitution and more like a declaration of interdependence. The treaty is quite short. It has a preamble and three brief articles (More info here). The treaty provides not structure, but engagement, ‘partnership’ as the Court of Appeal judge (apparently) termed it. I’d like to think the treaty led to something like the ideal marriage—never intended to be broken, albeit at times traveling through rough waters.

If the treaty is reduced to a mere legalism, as it could be by relentless wrangling into the indefinite future, it will produce a veritable ‘marriage from hell’. There’s certainly ample opportunity for the devil’s work in any society, but a special opportunity lies in the Treaty of Waitangi, which from the very outset was prepared in both English and Māori. No two languages are exactly alike. Nor do they have the same range of interests (if I may put it that way). Languages express cultures. And cultures differ. Differing languages virtually insure differing ways of seeing the world, of seeing what is important and what isn’t. It can be difficult enough to interpret the meaning of a constitution written in one language. When a putatively single document is prepared in two languages, we must be prepared for the reality that key terms, especially abstract or arcane terms, may be incorrectly translated—or more to the point—misunderstood (even with the best of intentions by all parties concerned). That aforementioned high court judge was wise to focus on the principles embodied in the treaty, rather than the wordage. Without some measure of good will, the treaty will simply become a source of unrelenting division over an inheritance rather than a rallying point for the common heritage of New Zealand.

My sense is that Waitangi Day isn’t yet a shared celebration among all Kiwis. But there is hope, I believe, because as a matter of fact both Māori and Pākehā (the Māori term for Europeans) live and work together as a matter of course. There are no Māori reservations. In cities and towns one doesn’t encounter districts where Māori are kept separate from Pākehā. On the contrary, there is a good deal of cultural mixing and not only at the marriage altar. English and Māori are official languages of New Zealand. Māori and people with partial Māori ancestry play roles, so far as I can see, in virtually every aspect of New Zealand’s life. These are not small cultural accomplishments.

Waitangi Day needn’t fit a cookie-cutter image of what a national holiday must look or feel like. The day is New Zealand’s own and it is for Kiwis going forward to fashion it just as they see fit. At least they have a foundation to build on. And may God bless it.

Warm regards,

Tim & Jean

PS. Jean and I have moved from Hamilton to Te Awamutu, about 30 minutes south of Hamilton. Our Internet access (at least for the time being) has been significantly degraded. However, the move will facilitate Jean’s medical work. She’ll be spending less time in traveling to outlying clinics. We look forward to living in Te Awamutu, but we’ll miss living so close to the Hamilton Lake Domain (‘domain’ is Kiwiese for an urban park). With this post you'll see a few parting ‘shots’ from Hamilton and two shots from its closest seaside town, Ragland, which we recently visited. Ragland is the town where California ‘evangelists’ introduced surfing to New Zealand (sorry, no surfing photos yet).