The waka display and mass haka on Tii Beach is one of the highlights of Waitangi Day. Photo / Michael Cunningham
The waka display and mass haka on Tii Beach is one of the highlights of Waitangi Day. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Once a year the eyes of the nation turn to Waitangi as New Zealanders remember, for better or worse, the signing of Te Tiriti on February 6, 1840.
Waitangi Day at Waitangi has evolved radically from the days when it was known mostly as a protest flashpoint.
While it's stilla place where Māori can hold the Government to account face-to-face and insist politicians live up to their promises, it's also an inclusive, colourful and enjoyable festival that speaks of the vibrant bicultural nation Aotearoa is in its better moments.
The following is a highly subjective Top 10 moments at Waitangi — the good, the bad and the quirky — from the past few decades.
Who could forget the dildo incident of 2016? Finance Minister Steven Joyce was fronting a media conference when he was struck in the face by a novelty sex toy lobbed by protester Josie Butler. She was given a warning by police and trespassed from the Treaty Grounds for two years.
Joyce took the incident in good humour and even contacted US TV host John Oliver — who has a soft spot for New Zealand — urging him to put it on his show and ''get it over with''. Oliver happily complied, turning dildo-gate into an international sensation.
The dildo thrown at Finance Minister Steven Joyce at Waitangi in 2016 was a gift American TV host John Oliver couldn't pass up. Photo / Supplied
Helen Clark's tears
Only one person in the history of the universe has made the formidable former Prime Minister Helen Clark cry in public. That person was the possibly even more formidable Titewhai Harawira, a Ngāpuhi matriarch and Hone Harawira's mum.
The tears came as Harawira stopped Clark from speaking at Te Tii Marae during a pōwhiri in 1998. It appeared Clark's staff hadn't briefed her adequately because protocol at the marae has always barred women speakers.
In 2019 the great navigator and waka builder Hekenukumai Busby — who is credited, among other things, with reviving Māori ocean voyaging — was knighted in front of the Prime Minister and thousands of supporters. The event, an outpouring of pride and aroha, came just in time. Sir Hek died later that year, aged 86.
The newly knighted Sir Hekenukumai Busby and Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy at Waitangi in 2019. Photo / Peter de Graaf
John Key's jostle
As they were driving to Waitangi in 2009, brothers Wikatana and Hone Popata heard a radio newsreader announce peace had ''broken out'' at Waitangi. Concerned the lack of protest could be misconstrued as Māori acquiescence with the way the Treaty was being honoured, they staged a short but vigorous protest in which they grabbed Prime Minister John Key, who had his arm in a sling, by the jacket while shouting he wasn't welcome at the marae. The brothers were sentenced to 100 hours' community work.
A few years later, in a huff after he wasn't allowed to make a speech at Te Tii Marae, the leader now known as Sir John announced he would not return to Waitangi. Ever.
Wikatana Popata in a scuffle with police and Māori Wardens as Prime Minister John Key arrives at Te Tii Marae in 2012. Photo / John Stone
Opening of Te Rau Aroha
In 2020 more than 1000 people descended on the Treaty Grounds before dawn to witness the powerful, emotionally charged opening of Te Rau Aroha, a museum dedicated to Māori sacrifice in times of war. Special guests included Sir Robert ''Bom'' Gillies, now the sole survivor of the 28th Māori Battalion.
Māori Battalion veteran Robert "Bom" Gillies and VC recipient Willie Apiata at the opening of Te Rau Aroha in 2020. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Brash and the mud-slingers
While a bit of mud-slinging is part of robust debate, in 2004 young protesters took it literally by pelting Opposition leader Don Brash while he was outside the marae speaking to media. His response when a clump of dirt hit him in the face was: ''Not a bad shot.''
The Queen and the wet T-shirt
In 1990, the 150th anniversary of the Treaty, a woman threw a wet T-shirt at Queen Elizabeth II as she was waving to the crowds from her vehicle. The T-shirt missed the monarch and landed on the seat behind her. The 27-year-old owner of the T-shirt, who said she wanted to draw attention to injustices suffered by Māori, was sentenced to five months' periodic detention.
The PM's bacon butties
A Government tradition at Waitangi until a few short years ago was to host a fancy, invitation-only breakfast for diplomats and other bigwigs. In 2018 then newly elected Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern turned that on its head and ordered her ministers to fire up the barbecues, don aprons, and make bacon butties for the people. It's still the only time each year the PM will cook your breakfast.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at the barbecue on Waitangi Day 2018. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Andrew Little's speech
Oratory is a big part of Waitangi Day commemorations. Ngāti Hine's Waihoroi Shortland is one of the best speakers — hyper-articulate and so funny he's a danger to listeners with weak bladders — but one speech of recent years stands out. In 2020 Treaty Negotiations Minister Andrew Little spoke entirely in te reo and without notes for eight minutes. The effort it took was clearly enormous.
That same year Ngāpuhi leader Mere Mangu caused a minor scandal by speaking during the pōwhiri, sparking a renewed debate about women speaking on the marae — as did comments by National leader Judith Collins a year later.
Te Rūnanga-a-iwi o Ngāpuhi chairwoman Mere Mangu congratulates an emotional Treaty Negotiations Minister Andrew Little after his speech. Photo / John Stone
The waka display
The annual display by a dozen or more fully-carved waka as they are powered down Waitangi River by hundreds of chanting kaihoe (paddlers), before landing on Tii Beach for karakia and an earth-shaking mass haka, is surely one of Northland's great spectacles. If this doesn't make your spine tingle you'd better check your pulse.
One of the most moving waka moments came in 2020 when 92-year-old Eru Patuone Heperi joined the crew of Ngātokimatawhaorua during the annual waka display. In February 1940 a then 12-year-old Eru was the bailer and the youngest crew member when the waka made its maiden journey across the Bay of Islands. Eighty years later, by then the oldest crew member by far, he travelled from his Gold Coast home to fulfil his dream of one last journey in the great waka.
The late Wiremu Wiremu escorts 92-year-old Eru Patuone Heperi ashore after his journey in the great waka Ngātokimatawhaorua. Photo / John Stone
■ This is just one person's list of memorable moments. Do you have a special memory of Waitangi Day you'd like to share? If so please email editor@northernadvocate.co.nz and we'll publish it.
