Waitangi National Trust Board reception

More photographs are available here.

Rau rangatira mā, e kui mā e koro mā tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā koutou.  Nga mihi māhana ki a koutou.  Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, warm greetings to you all.

I specifically acknowledge: Pita Paraone, Chairman of the Waitangi National Trust Board; Hon Christopher Finlayson, Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage; Hon Dr Pita Sharples, Minister of Māori Affairs; and Sir Tumu te Heuheu and Rt Hon Sir Donald McKinnon, co-chairs of the Waitangi Charitable Foundation – kia ora koutou katoa.

It is a great pleasure for Janine and me to welcome you all to Government House for this reception to launch the Waitangi Charitable Foundation.  This house, with its history, heritage and connections is an appropriate place for this event to occur. 

It could be asserted that all of this started when my predecessor, William Hobson, under instructions from Her Majesty Queen Victoria first signed a treaty on 6 February 1840.  Or we can point to our predecessors, Lord Bledisloe and Lady Elaine, who gifted the Treaty House and the 506 hectares of land that surround it to the nation in 1932.  The Bledisloes lived here and are surely an important part of the matters at hand.

The Bledisloes’ gift ranks as one of the most significant philanthropic gestures in New Zealand’s history.  Their gift represents far more than its monetary value.  Its significance lies in setting the grounds – te whenua - and the Treaty of Waitangi that was signed there – and its wairua, its spirit - as national taonga.  These things are central pieces in New Zealand’s history, New Zealand’s heritage and New Zealand’s future.

Two years after the Bledisloes made their gift, what had been a sadly dilapidated Treaty House had been restored.  And on 6 February 1934 the first Waitangi Day celebrations were held there, with thousands gathering to mark the occasion, which set in train a process that has seen us come to view Waitangi Day as our national day.  It has provided a framework for New Zealanders to look afresh at our history, to address its hurts and to look to the future.  From a document that the courts once declared a “simple nullity,” the Treaty is now rightly recognised as a founding document of government in New Zealand.

In this process, the Waitangi National Trust as the guardian of the Birthplace of the Nation - Te Pitowhenua – plays a pivotal role in educating and informing New Zealanders about the land, buildings and the Treaty.  The Visitor Centre and its staff welcome thousands of New Zealanders and overseas visitors to the Treaty grounds each year. 

As Patron of the Waitangi National Trust Board, I commend the plan to enhance and add to the current facilities by building a museum.  It will be a place that can house our important collection of smaller artefacts and taonga.  It will provide a library, research centre and education space. 

In the sentiments of the Bledisloes gifting our heritage to us, today the Trust launches the Waitangi Charitable Foundation that allows New Zealanders to contribute to our history being accessible to future generations.  The Trust’s vision of Waitangi as our most important historical site will be enhanced by this opportunity to literally build our knowledge and to educate each new generation of the significance of what happened at Waitangi and its relevance to our sense of nationhood. 

In telling the stories associated with Waitangi, stories that lie at the heart of our nation’s history, we can actively preserve the notion of partnership that the Treaty of Waitangi – te Tiriti o Waitangi - espouses.  The Waitangi Charitable Foundation is a wonderful initiative because it provides the wider New Zealand community with opportunities to contribute to both the upkeep of the grounds and to maintain our stories. 

The Trust and the Foundation have before you a major on-going task.  Accordingly, it is appropriate for me conclude with words of counsel, in the form of a proverb: “Kaua e whakaarohia te mahinga engari te otinga - think not on the labour, rather reflect on its completion.” 
Na reira, e aku rangatira, nga mihi ki a koutou, e whakamana nei te kaupapa hirahira.  Distinguished friends who are here to support this splendid initiative, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou tēnā koutou katoa.