A Dutch paddler who has travelled around the world to take part in today’s Waitangi Day commemorations says getting involved with kaupapa waka – and learning about the Māori world – has changed his life.
Koos Wabeke was one ofsix Dutch kaihoe (paddlers) joining this year’s cultural exchange between the Netherlands and New Zealand.
The kaihautū, or captain, of the Dutch contingent, Wabeke had been part of the exchange since its inception 15 years ago.
It began when the late Sir Hekenukumai Busby carved a waka for a Dutch museum – on the condition a local crew was trained in maintenance, paddling and tikanga Māori.
Wabeke said he had now travelled to New Zealand nine times, with seven of those trips specifically for Waitangi Day.
The 37-year-old said he hugely enjoyed the atmosphere of “Tent City”, the waka training camp set up each year at Bledisloe Domain, near Paihia.
“It’s such a magical feeling to be here, to support the kaupapa, to support practices that have been done for thousands of years by the Māori … when you arrive here, everybody’s practising and the whole camp is buzzing with energy. I haven’t found that feeling anywhere else in the world.”
Some of the Dutch paddlers will help crew the great waka Ngātokimatawhaorua on Waitangi Day. Photo / RNZ / Peter de Graaf
Wabeke said another thing that kept bringing him back was the friendships he had formed over the past 15 years.
“It’s an insane thing to wrap your head around, but it’s like you have family on the other side of the world. You’re travelling for 32 hours, but you get out of the plane, and you’re welcomed like you just came home, like you’ve walked in your mum’s front door. That’s the embrace you feel here.”
However, Wabeke said the appeal of Māori culture went beyond friendships.
“It’s the connection to the land, the culture, the rituals, the way of being together as a people, looking after each other, and looking ahead long-term to the future. I think that’s something we’ve lost along the way in the Netherlands, and that’s something we’re definitely searching for and hoping to find again.”
‘A huge experience’
Joe Conrad, the Kaitāia-based kaihautū of the great waka Ngātokimatawhaorua, had also been involved in the exchange since the beginning.
Conrad said that at the start there were many who doubted whether a group of Dutch students could adopt the culture and the kaupapa.
“There was huge expectation on us from our iwi and our critics, about whether we were doing the right thing, and if they would meet our expectations. I think in the last five years they’ve gone above those expectations … and over the years, we’ve not only passed our knowledge on to them, but they’ve been passing their culture on to us. So it’s been a huge experience and I hope it continues to grow,” he said.
Joe Conrad, kaihautū (captain) of the great waka Ngātokimatawhaorua, briefs paddlers ahead of a training session for Waitangi Day 2025. Photo / RNZ / Peter de Graaf
Dutch ambassador Ard van der Vorst was also making regular visits to Tent City during his three-day stay at Waitangi.
He said it was a big year for the Dutch community in New Zealand, with the Dutch waka project celebrating its 15th anniversary, 60 years of diplomatic representation between the two countries, and a new embassy about to open in Wellington.
Van der Vorst said he came to Waitangi each year to support the Dutch paddlers, who were taking part in something bigger than just paddling a canoe.
“There’s so much more depth to it … I see it almost as a holy moment for those paddlers, when they have the opportunity to sit together, to be part of that waka, to go on the water together and unite their strength to move the waka forward.”
Van der Vorst said Waitangi Day was fascinating for him as a diplomat.
“Relationships matter, and at Waitangi there is always a stock-taking of the relationship in Aotearoa New Zealand between communities. It’s always very interesting to see where this is going. I feel very humbled and privileged to witness and be part of that.”
Meanwhile, Wabeke said he hoped the relationships he had forged through kaupapa waka would continue even after he had paddled his last stroke.
“My own son is 7 months. I can’t wait to bring him here when he’s old enough and have him sit on the waka at Waitangi. I’m already sharing some of the lessons with him that I’ve learned from this relationship over the last 15 years, because it has definitely changed me. It’s helped me find more of who I am and what’s important to me, and make sure that I connect more with this world.”
The story behind the Dutch waka
The origins of the waka exchange between the Netherlands and New Zealand date back to 2002 when Te Papa requested the repatriation of a mokomokai – a preserved Māori head – from Museum Volkenkunde, the Dutch national ethnology museum in the city of Leiden.
The three-year process of returning the artefact fuelled Dutch interest in tikanga Māori, and led to a close relationship between the museum and Te Papa.
A year after the head’s return in 2005, an exhibition by the acclaimed photographer Ans Westra – who was born in Leiden but is best known for her 1960s portraits of rural Māori – led to even closer connections with New Zealand and the idea of “ordering” a waka as a living exhibit.
What had seemed a museum director’s unlikely dream became reality in 2010 thanks to a €425,000 ($780,000) grant from the Dutch equivalent of the Lottery Grants Board.
The grant also meant the museum could expand its wishlist to include a fibreglass-hulled waka tētē (training canoe) and a carved whare waka (canoe shelter) for the museum grounds.
Strange juxtaposition: Dutch kaihoe (paddlers) train in the waka tētē Tāhimana on a canal in Leiden. Photo / RNZ / Peter de Graaf
The waka was built by the late Sir Hekenukumai Busby at his workshop in Aurere, Doubtless Bay, and designed for Dutch conditions with a lowered taurapa (sternpost) to fit under low bridges and a hull designed for manoeuvring on narrow canals.
Busby named the waka Te Hono ki Aotearoa (The Link to New Zealand), and handed it over in an elaborate ceremony as thousands of spectators lined Leiden’s canals.
Arts organisation Toi Māori Aotearoa, which brokered the deal, set a number of conditions.
Those conditions included allowing Toi Māori to retain ownership of the waka, though it would be on permanent loan to the Netherlands, and requiring the museum to make the waka available for special occasions around Europe, such as Queen Elizabeth II’s 60th jubilee river pageant in 2012.
Also, the museum would have to recruit a crew to be trained in waka protocols, so they could maintain the canoe and paddle it when required.
Some of these kaihoe (paddlers) would be expected to travel to New Zealand every year for further training and immersion in te ao Māori (the Māori world).
Museum curators began their search for homegrown kaihoe at the nearby Leiden University rowing club.
Members of Leiden University’s Njord Royal Rowing Club practise in the waka tētē Tāhimana. Photo / RNZ / Peter de Graaf
The students were quick to embrace kaupapa waka and surprised many with their dedication. The club’s Waka Gezelschap (waka group) had about 50 members, including some who had been involved since the project’s inception.
During their weekly training nights, as long as the canals weren’t frozen, the students practised in the waka tētē.
They named their training waka Tāhimana, after the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman.
Te Hono ki Aotearoa, which weighed just under a tonne and may be paddled only by men, was used only on special occasions.
Museum Volkenkunde, which hosted an annual Māori Week and held its own Waitangi Day commemorations, had since been renamed Wereldmuseum Leiden (World Museum Leiden).
