Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson dresses as English Victorian to Waitangi Day

Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson and partner Jeannette Reid in their 1840s English settler costumes at Waitangi Treaty Grounds.

Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson has shed light on why he opted for English Victorian attire at this year’s Waitangi Day celebrations.

While the mayor is an outspoken opponent of co-governance, Jepson said the 1840s English period costumes worn by he and partner Jeannette Reid brought the history of the nation’s birth to life.

Jepson and Reid attended Waitangi Day’s 10am church service at Te Whare Rūnanga on February 6, wearing ‘Sunday best’ Victorian early settlers’ costumes based on the era in which the Treaty of Waitangi was signed. The couple also carried messages on small scrolls to hand out that said, “Honour the Treaty. He iwi tahi tatou.”

“That translates to ‘we are now all one people’,” Jepson said.

Jepson had been aware of that some people may have viewed their outfits as being potentially linked to what some saw as New Zealand’s colonial oppression but said there had been no animosity from anybody - including a hīkoi in defence of te Tiriti o Waitangi.

“A lot of the older Māori kuia were coming up to us and saying how much they loved what we were wearing, wanting photos with Jeannette in particular.”

Shortly after Jepson was elected as mayor in October 2022, he controversially canned karakia from the start of Kaipara District Council (KDC) meetings. In 2020 he led Democracy Northland’s petition against the introduction of these wards without public consultation in Kaipara. He also campaigned against Māori wards when running for Mayor.

He formally represented KDC as mayor in his normal suit and tie when attending the Waitangi Day breakfast hosted by Māori-Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka.

But Jepson said he stepped out of that formal role to attend the later church service in his personal capacity, doing so after changing into his rented period costume.

He said his English settler attire was fitting and perhaps typical of an early farmer from Northland, Canterbury or anywhere in the country.

“After all my family arrived on one of the first four ships (bringing English settlers) into New Zealand - the Sir George Seymour - that arrived in Canterbury in December 1850.”

Jepson said there should be more people at future Waitangi celebrations dressing in costumes representative of the Treaty of Waitangi signing era, including seafaring sailors and whalers and Dalmations with their bags of gum and gum digging sticks.

■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.