Treaty of Waitangi

On Thursday it was raining (although still warm) in Russell so we decided that it would be a good day to cross over to Paihia to visit the place where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840. There is a lovely and informative museum there, with a really good short film about the Treaty. My understanding (very basic!) is that the British had meetings with lots of Maori chiefs from all over New Zealand, and proposed their treaty, which declared British sovereignty over New Zealand. This was allegedly intended to protect the Maori from unscrupulous settlers (both British and other Europeans) but mainly, of course, to take control of the country. One problem was that the word "sovereignty" was translated into Maori as "governance" which led the Maoris to believe that they were not giving up all of their authority. Needless to say, this led to clashes over the years and the Maoris lost out because they were soon outnumbered by settlers and also were not initially represented in the New Zealand government. However it does seem that a flawed treaty turned out to be better than no treaty at all, and prevented all out war while giving the Maori people at least some rights. 

After our tour we went to the nearby Maori meeting house for a bit of culture. This took the form of a haka; a type of ancient Māori war dance traditionally used on the battlefield, as well as when groups came together in peace. We quickly elected Jamie as the leader of our tribe and he had to square up to one of the Maori men, who did a rather fearsome dance. Jamie then had to make an impromptu speech of peace which he did very well, and the Maoris all sang and danced about (extremely skilfully) while doing their signature staring and sticking their tongues out. This was fascinating, followed by a delicious savoury muffin in the café!

We went downstairs to The Gables Restaurant for dinner later and our meal was yummy despite a slight scare involving Jamie, his mild allergy to shellfish and a mussel in batter of which he ate half without realising what it was. Nothing too serious transpired I'm glad to say, and the restaurant staff were very apologetic and concerned.