Africa to Aotearoa

E nga mana, e nga reo, e nga iwi o te motu e huihui nei, tēnei aku mihi māhana ki a koutou. Naumai haere mai ra ki Te Whare Kawana ki Te Whanganui-a-Tara.

Warm greetings to you all, and welcome to Government House Wellington.

I specifically acknowledge: Rt Hon Sir Anand Satyanand; Hon Fran Wilde; His Worship Meng Foon; Professor Hamish Spencer, Director of the Allan Wilson Centre, and Professor Lisa Matisoo-Smith.  Tēnā koutou katoa.

It is a great pleasure for Janine and me to welcome you all to Government House this evening.

I am sure there will be great interest in what we are about to hear tonight, because one thing we share is an interest in our identity, our genealogy – our whakapapa – knowing where we have come from, how we are connected and who our people are.

In many ways this interest is more acute for the inhabitants of New Zealand, the most recently settled major land mass on the planet.

What makes a New Zealander?  This question becomes particularly pertinent as we look ahead to next year, the 175th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

On the 6 February, 1840, Captain William Hobson said to each of the Maori chiefs he greeted: “He iwi ko tahi tātou – We are one people”.

In one sense, his pronouncement was prescient – because evolutionary biology has subsequently shown us that we all have a common ancestor; we are all derived from a small band of humans in Africa; and the people on this planet are much more alike than once was thought.

However, in another sense, Hobson could not have possibly imagined how diverse our population would become in the following 174 years, as Māori were joined by diaspora from all points on the globe.

Neither could he have possibly imagined the advances in science which have enabled the descendants branching from those African ancestors to be tracked and identified by genetic markers.

With respect to the development of evolutionary biology, we need to acknowledge two New Zealand-born scientists who deserve to be household names in their country of birth.

First is Maurice Wilkins, who was born here in Wellington.  Wilkins lived here until the age of 6 before going to England, where he was educated.  Wilkins, James Watson and Francis Crick jointly won the Nobel Prize in 1962 for their work on DNA.  Maurice Wilkins was later to attribute some of his success as a scientist to his very happy years in New Zealand and the freedom he had to explore and discover as a child.

The second scientist who deserves our accolades is Allan Wilson, who re-wrote history with his concept of a molecular clock and his identification of a mitochondrial Eve, from whom we are all descended.

Their achievements and insights underpin subsequent developments in evolutionary biology, and have given a new scientific dimension to discussions about identity.

For example, we now understand more about our earliest inhabitants through genetic data recovered at Wairau Bar, which is commonly thought to be one of the earliest entry points for migrants from Polynesia. 

The data revealed an unexpected level of diversity, which suggests that Polynesians came here in larger numbers than was previously thought.  It also confirms that their migration was deliberate, well planned and involved sophisticated navigational skills.

Evolutionary biology helps us understand our heritage, and it also helps us address issues confronting us in the present.  For example, better understanding of how species evolve and adapt helps our researchers to improve management of our endangered species and our environment.  We can thank the Allan Wilson Centre for coordinating much of this work in New Zealand.

I saw one of their projects for myself earlier this year at Tolaga Bay – the Uawanui Sustainability Project – and I hope to see more of these kinds of collaborations with communities around New Zealand.

Tonight the focus is on the Africa to Aotearoa Project, which is also supported by the Allan Wilson Centre.

It’s an exciting and ground-breaking project that will fill a gap in the data on the evolutionary development of our species and our settlement of the planet.

I was delighted to be asked to take part and to be one of 100 Wellingtonians to be sampled.  It is a privilege to know that my data will contribute to better understanding New Zealand’s genetic identity, and I am just as eager and intrigued as the rest of the volunteers to hear tonight’s report back.

So without further ado, I invite Professor Lisa Matisoo-Smith to the podium.

Kia ora huihui tātou katoa