(waves crashing)
- [Radio broadcast] This year marks the
250th anniversary of the first face-to-face
meeting between tangata whenua and European sailors.
- [Radio broadcast] Captain James Cook's ship Endeavour
coming to our shores for Tuia 250
The reenactment of Cook's journey.
- [Radio broadcast] Critics say spending $23 million
to mark such a divisive moment is wrong.
- [Andrew] Many years ago we probably wouldn't
have even been close to these conversations.
It's hard as it is.
People out there, I can just say the
word treaty and their nostrils start to flare up.
We are the problem.
We always have been.
Since Cook arrived.
(quiet music)
- [Jen] Who decided?
(laughs)
That we should do this?
- [Alex] I understand the resistance
to commemorations of Cook's landing.
Or, as some say,
of that invasion and of that violence.
- [Juliet] The term "Cook discovered New Zealand"
just shocks me,
that people could think that.
And not see that the land had already been
very well discovered, thank you.
- [Jo] I don't know about that word 'commemorations'
what we're actually doing and
when we're just celebrating and
glorifying something because I think that
whole hero-ising is absolutely wrong.
- [Andrew] He arrived, alright.
But what happened after that has been
horrendous for Māori.
And if we don't understand that in our hearts,
then we will never really move on as a nation.
Or as Pākehā
To put it in context and to the
consequences of that.
- ['Cook'] (singing)
Hello!
Aww hello, hello, hello.
(waves crashing)
When I first made my way down
to New Zealand in 1769,
I was told to go and find the
great unknown Southern continent.
Everyone was looking for it at the time.
You know, the Dutch, the Spanish, the French.
(gags)
Hate the French. (chuckles)
Basically the way it worked was
the first one to get there and
pop their flag down wins.
All theirs.
You know, that's colonisation.
Pop your flag down, bam, that's mine. (chuckles)
- [Jen] Inherent in this coming together in
the process of Cook is this
process of colonisation.
Which, is a violent process,
aimed at destroying indigenous people.
- [Alex] I don't think non-Māori realised the
impact of colonisation on Māori and
on themselves,
on ourselves.
When we don't even have an awareness,
how can we then begin to take honourable action.
- [Andrew] My ancestors came here.
We took over,
we murdered and plundered.
We set up an agreement to try and
work together and ignored that.
'Cause you try to give yourself permission about the past.
Don't blame me, I didn't take the land.
I didn't stop the language.
It's not my fault.
What I've done is maintained my
privilege by ignoring the past.
- [Juliet] It takes strength to go past guilt.
And maybe it's helpful to realise that
it's a self-indulgent excuse,
in a way.
It's good to be guilty when you first find out.
I think. But to see it as a
stage and not to stay there.
And to change from guilt to responsibility.
- [Ensai] I still do kind of struggle with
the whole Pākehā paralysis kind of thing.
Like,
what if I,
you know, do something wrong?
- [Zeb] Even just labelling it is a really
important step because once you've
labelled it then you can get over it.
(laughs) And you can actually
do something useful with it.
- [Andrew] We've got to find a better way.
A more caring way.
We have to challenge ourselves.
- [Alex] The treaty is inspiring to me.
It's a blueprint for how we can work together.
And so that for me is the vision.
- [Jen] If we honour Te Tiriti we would
address so many of the issues that are
facing this country in terms of the
injustice and imbalance that we see.
And so,
why wouldn't we do that?
'Cause it'll create a better
Aotearoa for everybody.
- [Alex] We have to be able to
believe that we can do this.
And history will show us that we can.
- ['Cook'] Anyway, that's all hindsight.
You know?
Look back in the past,
wonder what you could've done differently.
(chuckles) So I'm trying to think about
how to incorporate hindsight into my
day-to-day business, you know?
Sort of look back into the past,
and see what informs in your
actions in the future.
Sort of like looking backwards
in order to move forward.
You're looking backwards
in order to move forward.
Right. (banging on metal)
Need a little bit of practise at that,
don't I? (chuckles)
Well, anyway, come on let's go.
(waves crashing)
(quiet music)