Waitangi Day Commemorations 2003

Nga manuhiri tuarangi,

nga rangatira ma,

nga iwi o te motu,

nga mihi mahana ki a koutou katoa.

Visitors from afar, respected guests, people from New Zealand, warm greetings to you all.

Sir Paul and Lady Reeves, Your Excellency the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Archbishop Coveney, Members of the Diplomatic Corps, the Rt Hon. Jonathon Hunt, Speaker of the House, the Hon Jim Anderton and Mrs Anderton, the Hon Margaret Wilson, the Hon Chris Carter and Mr Peter Kaizer, the Hon Bill English, Ladies and Gentlemen.

I am delighted that so many of you have chosen to commemorate this very special day for our nation here at Government House.

It is one hundred and sixty three years today since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.  As a nation, much has changed in that time. 

Today, perhaps more so than at any other time since its signing, Te Tiriti o Waitangi is acknowledged as the founding document of modern New Zealand.  This growing understanding of the role of the Treaty in New Zealand history is a key to understanding what it means to be a New Zealander. 

In recent years, our country has matured significantly. Three years ago, we greeted the new millennium with confidence, sure about our place in the world.  We are well aware that we are but a small nation on the edge of the world, yet we stand tall on the international stage. 

Young New Zealanders travelling overseas speak eagerly of our unique bicultural society.  Others who work so effectively in our armed services, and in our embassies and High Commissions in many parts of the world, swell with pride when they realise how highly our international contributions are valued. 

But when it comes to how we view ourselves within our own borders, we are far more self-critical, and far less self-confident.  Sometimes we find it difficult to articulate what we as a nation stand for, or to understand our national identity.  Sometimes we express irritation at the way in which different groups in our society express their views and aspirations for New Zealand, forgetting perhaps that every modern nation has been born out of debate and even conflict.

Our population today comprises people from so many different backgrounds that it is no longer possible to come up with a simple description of a New Zealander.

Last year, on this occasion, I likened our society to a tapestry, woven of intricate and colourful threads.  The Treaty partners in this piece of cloth are represented by the predominant colours and textures.  Other, often smaller parts of the pattern, are made up of a huge variety of nationalities, people who have chosen to live in this land of ours:  Europeans, Asians, people from the Americas and Africa, and men and women who have come from the Middle East.  We welcome all those who make this land their home, their turangawaewae - and who wish to help it remain a place of peace and beauty.

We may all be New Zealanders, but like the beautifully woven piece of cloth, all threads that go to make it up are not the same - it is the diversity and colour that makes New Zealand what it is today.  And it is that diversity that will help this tiny nation survive the inevitable international pressures on our economy and our way of life.

Around two decades ago, one of my predecessors, the late Sir David Beattie, said this: 

"We are not one people, nor should we try to be.  We do not need to be.  What we need to do is live and work together and play together as fellow human beings, recognising that we are a nation of a variety of races and customs." 

These comments have as much currency today as they did then.  Our diversity is something to be proud of.  It is an asset, something to treasure.

Despite our different backgrounds and the many cultures that have become the hallmark of our nation, we all have something in common.  And today, on Waitangi Day, when New Zealanders the length and breadth of the country spend time with their friends and families, it becomes clear what it is that binds us all together.  It is the land on which we stand, the land in which we live, and the special spirit that comes from our association with the land. 

The Treaty of Waitangi, that piece of paper signed all those years ago, has long outgrown its status as a simple contract between settler and tangata whenua. It has become more, much more.  Over the years, the Treaty has come to embody our relationship with this precious land of ours.

The Treaty of Waitangi, and with it Waitangi Day, is a significant part of our history. New Zealanders from all backgrounds live and find their identity against its background.

This morning I was at Waitangi.  I want to share with you the deep sense of history that is so evident there.  It is a place of great beauty, like many parts of New Zealand.  But it has a unique spirituality too.  The Treaty House, built for James Busby the British Administrator and the Whare Runanga built by the Northland tribes with assistance from others from throughout New Zealand as a place for meeting and discussion, stand side by side in what must be the most beautiful and peaceful setting in New Zealand.

Lord and Lady Bledisloe, who some seventy years ago purchased the estate at Waitangi and gifted it to the nation, had a vision for the land.  They saw it as a place which all New Zealanders would visit and where we could begin to understand our common heritage.  They established the Waitangi National Trust Board to administer the grounds and buildings at Waitangi.  The Board's members are passionate about the estate and what it means for all who live in New Zealand.  I am immensely proud that, as Governor-General, I chair the Waitangi National Trust Board.  On behalf of the Board, I invite all New Zealanders, in particular those who have not yet visited Waitangi, to make a point of visiting this special place any day of the year but particularly on Waitangi Day.

If there is such a thing as a birthplace of a nation, then ours is Waitangi.   And, Waitangi Day is the birthday of our nation.

We are proud to be New Zealanders.  Let us be proud of our heritage and our history.

Thank you for coming.

Tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.