David Lange Memorial

May I begin by greeting everyone in the languages of the realm of New Zealand, in English, Maori, Cook Island Maori, Niuean, Tokelauan and New Zealand Sign Language.

Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni and as it is morning time (Sign)

May I specifically greet you: Andrew Beyer, chairman of the David Lange Memorial Trust, and your fellow trustees, Margaret Pope and Graham Mullins; Your Worship, Hon John Banks, Mayor of Auckland and a number of your Councillors; Su'a William Sio, Hon Vui Mark Gosche, Ross Robertson and Dave Hereora, Members of Parliament; Distinguished Guests otherwise; Ladies and Gentlemen.

It was with pleasure that my wife Susan and I accepted the invitation to be here today for the opening of the David Lange Memorial.

Three things underpin this.  First - the Governor-General connection.  Aside from myself, it was through my predecessor, Sir David  Beattie, that David was sworn in as Prime Minister of New Zealand in 1984.  There are also other Governor-General links with David's family, his grandparents, Jack and Mary, having been married in 1898 by my predecessor Sir Michael Hardie Boys' grandfather, whilst David's father [Dr Roy] studied with Sir Arthur Porritt, the first New Zealand born Governor-General, at the OtagoUniversity medical school.

Secondly, I am Patron of the David Lange Memorial Trust, a position I happily agreed to upon being approached last year.  It is as Governor-General and Patron that I have been asked to formally open the memorial.

But thirdly, and most importantly, David Lange was, to both Susan and I, an old and good friend before, as well as after, his time in public life.

Both David and I were born in Auckland, sons of suburban doctors, David being one or two years older than me.  We were both at the LawSchool in the 1960s but first knew each other working during secondary school and then university holidays at the Westfield Freezing Works.  I worked there for three seasons and David even more.  David with his size and personality was a well-known figure as a member of the rail-out team.  He was already "the big guy" but in the multiple layers of clothing worn in the freezer he was enormous.  And even as a teenager, those later legendary qualities of prodigious general knowledge, unfailing humour and oratory, were in evidence - for example at Union shed meetings.

Our law school pathways were a bit different with me working as a law clerk and David travelling and then returning from England to complete in record time, a Master of Laws with first class honours in criminal law, criminal behaviour and medico-legal issues.

It was as young lawyers in Auckland and near neighbours in FreemansBay that our friendship with our wives and young families entered another phase.  Memories of those times, came back recently when someone gave Susan and I a photograph, taken with one of the less flash cameras of the early 1970s of the three of us - Susan, David and I - at the wedding of a friend.

It brought back a number of memories of our friendship and professional connections as young legal practitioners in Auckland. The David of those years characterised by the shock of long lank black hair, parted on the left and pushed across his forehead, the glasses with thick black plastic frames— obviously fashionable then as I see from the photograph that I wore something of the same myself! 

In the courts of the day, David's skill as an advocate was remarkable, and to the general knowledge,  the oratory and humour, were grafted on qualities of astute judgment and an ability to grab the moment.  One of many examples is to recall that bookmakers faced dire consequences on any third conviction and in the course of a summary trial, how David suddenly and unexpectedly brought his case to a close when the Magistrate had made an unfortunate comment indicating he'd already made up his mind about certain things - when he ought not to have - at least then.  The Magistrate realised he was "up the creek" and in a hasty judgement, equally suddenly and unexpectedly, dismissed the charge - and David had saved the bookmaker's bacon!

Our paths diverged during the 1970s.  He headed off to Wellington having moved to Mt Albert and then to Mangere after becoming elected as the Member for there in the 1977 by-election.  I became a Judge and went to Palmerston North and by the time of our family's return to Auckland in 1985, David was Prime Minister.

I was not at the selection meeting at ArahangaIntermediateSchool when he was chosen as the Labour candidate for Mangere in 1977.  But for anyone who had not seen him speak in public before, they would have been treated to him in full flight, his skills to which I have referred, being put to great effect.  As the story goes in his book, fifteen other candidates had spoken before him.  It is said:-

"The audience was bored and restless by the time my turn arrived and desperate for relief; when Arthur Faulkner introduced me as the candidate who had the longest wait and I made the obvious response, there was a roar of laughter in the hall.  I made what I still think is the best speech of my political career."

The rest, as it is said, is history and his contribution to public life and notably as Prime Minister will continue to be remembered and written about for many years.

There remained in public life, the qualities I have referred to, not at all least, the infectious good humour, often as not at his own expense.  I re-read yesterday preparing for today, his valedictory address in Parliament in 1996 to which I listened because David had had invited me to be in the Visitors Gallery.  Upon reading, it had me, before the end of paragraph three, in both admiration and stitches.  For just one example, describing scrapes he had had with Speakers of the House in his time, David said:- 

"I was 28 stone at the time.  I was quite obvious and really got here by the attraction of mass.  I was an enormous acquisition to the people who bought 26 inch television sets.  Sir Roy Jack the Speaker said to me "The honourable member will sit down and leave the Chamber!"  I said "Well I can scarcely do both". The Speaker called the Serjeant at Arms but the poor chap collapsed at the prospect of carrying me out which was beyond him.  All his hernias came at once."

I submit the excerpt is a telling example of all the things to which I have referred - rollicking good humour, flowing oratory and grabbing the moment, but with a grip of both procedure and underlying principle just as much.

It is fitting that this Memorial should be here in Otahuhu, only a few streets away from David's first home as a child, in the two storeyed house that still stands near the intersection of

Great South Rd

with

Mangere Rd

, behind the imposing War Memorial.  As David noted, while its formal address was

10 Mangere Rd

, letters addressed to "The Monument, Otahuhu" always reached the house, which also doubled as his father's surgery.

Hereabouts was the Lange stomping ground as a child and teenager.  He went to nearby FairburnSchool, to Otara Intermediate and, just down the road from the family home, to OtahuhuCollege.  The OtahuhuMethodistChurch, which was also formative in early years, is also not far away.

He mixed with people of all races, ethnic backgrounds and creeds, whether it was around here or working at Westfield to help pay his way through University or as a lawyer defending the poor and downtrodden, or even later as an MP and Prime Minister.

He was particularly respected by leaders in the Pacific and saw, long before many others, the importance that India would play in world affairs.  He famously told the late Sir Edmund Hillary, when he asked David what he should do as High Commissioner to India: "Do whatever you think best."

It is fitting that this memorial be in this form, as something everyone can enjoy, as opposed to a statue, which I feel certain he would never have wanted.  Indeed, it is said that when one interviewer told David that a public toilet had been named after him, he responded: "Yes but they've named the contents after you!"

David Russell Lange was a remarkable New Zealander.  He gave us great pride in being New Zealanders and did so with great warmth and spirit. 

David closed his memoir in May 2005 by writing as follows: "I can see through my windows that the elm trees are shedding their leaves and that the ivy on the barn has reddened and will soon disappear. If I see the leaves green again, I shall be very happy."

It was not to be, and a few months later, David was dead, taken before his time.

But it is now spring and the leaves are beginning to green again.  And so it seems appropriate, and it also gives me great pleasure and pride, as Governor-General, as Patron of the David Lange Memorial Trust, and as a friend, to officially declare the David Lange Memorial open.

And on that note, I will close in our country's first language Maori, offering everyone greetings and wishing everyone good health and fortitude in your endeavours - as might David Lange have.

No reira, tena koutou, tena koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tena koutou katoa.