St. Georges Anglican Church sits on the site of the Battle of Gate Pa. It is a location that shapes much of how we see ourselves.
In preparation for the 150th commemoration of the battles of Gate Pa and Te Ranga on 29 April and 21 June 2014, we have
hosted a lecture series on these battles over two weekends in January. The turnout has been hugely surprising and heartening.
We had planned one further free lecture, this time on the Treaty of Waitangi. In light of the attendance to talks on the battles it seems one talk may not be enough. It has been decided to offer a further free lecture on the Treaty. This will be held the Sunday after Waitangi Day, also from 2-4pm at St. Georges.
These talks offer an occasion to hear about why the Treaty came about, what happened during the days around Feb. 6th 1840, how the Treaty came to be signed by iwi around New Zealand, and some of the key dates since.
The lectures will be given by Cliff Simons, a local military historian whose doctorate is on the New Zealand Wars. He is not trying to push any agenda, just help people to be more informed about the story of the Treaty so that we can have informed debate about the place of the Treaty today.