Opinion: Waitangi Day - what are we actually celebrating?

Thousands will head to Waitangi in Northland this weekend. Photo / File

The Waitangi Treaty Grounds in the Far North is a special place.

A huge lawn overlooking the Bay of Islands rolls down to a cliff's edge.

Steeped with history, it is where Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed on February 6 in 1840.
Across the water is Russell, known in 1840 as Kororāreka.

Kororāreka was known as the "hellhole of the Pacific".

Waitangi - "the birthplace of a nation''. It was a difficult birth.

The Treaty was rushed - it was translated into Māori by a missionary, Henry Williams, and his son, Edward.

There is a strong argument that the document had more to do with colonial capitalism than a willingness to create a fair, cohesive relationship with Māori.

By 1840, several land deals had gone horribly wrong. Immigrants wanted to get rich by buying land from Māori and on-selling it for huge profits.

The cynical argument is that the British needed a legal document that backed up their greedy land deals. The British considered that the future of Māori was brightest if they signed the Treaty.

The British certainly talked a good Treaty - why else would Ngāpuhi chief Hone Heke have encouraged other chiefs to sign?

But the resulting document did not walk the talk.

Māori thought they were sharing guardianship of the land. The British claimed that Māori had handed over control.

Hōne Heke had trusted the British. His ensuing attacks on the British flagstaff at Kororāreka demonstrated his anger. And he had mana to restore, after urging fellow chiefs to sign.

Knowing a little Treaty history gives an insight into why anger still simmers today. Some iwi have made multimillion-dollar Treaty of Waitangi settlements with the Government.

It is telling that Ngāpuhi have not. There is residual anger and internal dissent over how the settlement process should be approached.

In the meantime, others have signed deals and moved on with creating opportunities for their iwi.

Annually we celebrate Waitangi Day with a public holiday.

This past week, a public holiday has been announced that will truly celebrate an occasion that is te ao Māori - in 2022 we will take a day to celebrate Matariki, the Māori New Year.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said that it is an occasion to celebrate our "unique, shared identity, and the importance of tikanga Māori".

In other words, what Waitangi Day should have been about.

But as we laze about on our public holiday on Monday, it's worth contemplating what we celebrate on Waitangi Day.

Perhaps it is the fact that despite what many regard as an embarrassing document that cheated Māori, we somehow managed to emerge into the 20th century and beyond as a relatively functional island nation.

That we didn't regress into a country blighted by civil unrest suggests many Māori had the ability to be pragmatic and forgive, but why should they forget?

Happy Waitangi Day.