Hone Heke

Ngapuhi are at loggerheads again, this time over some taonga loaned to a museum, with one elder – David Rankin – saying they are now being treated with disrespect.

A museum at Waitangi that opened to the public today has already been hit with a demand for the return of objects including Hone Heke’s tomahawk.

The Museum of Waitangi, part of a $14 million redevelopment of the Treaty Grounds, was formally opened by the Governor-General, Sir Jerry Mateparae, on Friday, and opened to the public today.

But Ngapuhi leader David Rankin has this evening contacted management to demand the return of two taonga he said his hapu, Te Matarahurahu, agreed to lend to the museum.

Mr Rankin told the Herald he had never been given any documentation after handing over the two precious items — a tomahawk that belonged to his ancestor Hone Heke and a godstick used by the tohunga Papahurihia — in July.

He said the final straw came when neither he nor any of his hapu’s kaumatua were invited to the museum opening, and the artefacts had been treated “like items at a garage sale”.   Read more »

Cameron Slater

As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news, he tends to be in it, with protagonists using the courts, media and social media to deliver financial as well as death threats.

They say that news is something that someone, somewhere, wants kept quiet. Cam Slater doesn’t do quiet and, as a result, he is a polarising, controversial but highly effective journalist who takes no prisoners.

He is fearless in his pursuit of a story.

Love him or loathe him, you can’t ignore him.

To read Cam’s previous articles click on his name in blue.

http://whaleoil.co.nz

David Rankin

David Rankin is an interesting person to do a google search on.

He has talked about the possibility of Maori not being indigenous in 2012

The status of Maori as the country’s indigenous population could be in danger if research, which suggests previous civilisations lived in New Zealand before Maori arrived, is proved true.

Ngapuhi leader David Rankin said books by authors such as investigative journalist Ian Wishart and historian Noel Hilliam presented “clear evidence” that some of New Zealand’s earliest residents might have arrived before the Polynesians.

He pointed to numerous Maori oral histories which referred to people being here when the first Maori arrived, including fair-skinned people.

“If we believe our histories, then we as Maori are not the indigenous people of New Zealand.”

The archaeological evidence in some research was a potential challenge to the status of Maori as indigenous, which was why he believed no other Maori was prepared to speak publicly on the issue, Mr Rankin said.

Details of much of the country’s past was being concealed by academic historians, he said.

“I would say it’s a conspiracy. They are worried that their own research will be exposed so they have worked hard to ridicule and suppress any Maori history which disagrees with their views.

“However, the tide is turning and more people are now seeing that there is a whole history of our country that has been concealed and which will have major implications for Treaty settlements for example.”

-NZHerald

Read more »

SB

If you agree with me that’s nice, but what I really want to achieve is to make you question the status quo, look between the lines and do your own research. Do not be a passive observer in this game we call life.

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Outspoken Ngaphui leader David Rankin had called for a ban of the burqa at Waitangi.

Presumably not just for Waitangi Day but all times.

With the 175^th anniversary of the Treaty of Waitangi approaching, the Ngapuhi leader David Rankin has called for a ban on burqas being worn at Waitangi, citing cultural reasons:

“Islam condemns cultures that do not comply with its rules.  We therefore see Islam as a direct threat to our rangatiratanga (sovereignty) and our culture,” he says.   Read more »

Cameron Slater

As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news, he tends to be in it, with protagonists using the courts, media and social media to deliver financial as well as death threats.

They say that news is something that someone, somewhere, wants kept quiet. Cam Slater doesn’t do quiet and, as a result, he is a polarising, controversial but highly effective journalist who takes no prisoners.

He is fearless in his pursuit of a story.

Love him or loathe him, you can’t ignore him.

To read Cam’s previous articles click on his name in blue.

http://whaleoil.co.nz

Today the Waitangi tribunal tried to rewrite law by issuing their decision that that Maori chiefs who signed the Treaty of Waitangi did not cede sovereignty.

Shortly thereafter David Rankin of Ngapuhi issued a press release:

Iwi leader says Tribunal ignored testimony and defames his ancestor

The Ngapuhi leader David Rankin (a descendent of the nineteenth century warrior chief Hone Heke) says that the Waitangi Tribunal report on Maori sovereignty, which is released today, defames his famous ancestor.

Mr Rankin gave evidence at a Waitangi Tribunal hearing which led to this report.  His testimony included details of the oral history of the treaty signing and how the rangatira [chiefs] at the time regarded political developments that were occurring:

“When our tupuna, Hone Heke, signed the Treaty of Waitangi, he did so because he know it was the only option in terms of having a relationship with the British Crown.  But the tribunal is now telling us that all those chiefs saw the Declaration of Independence, which a few had signed in 1835, as being the basis of their relationship with the British.  That is a lie and that is not what the tribunal was told.

Mr Rankin says the Tribunal report defames the memory of Hone Heke, and of his whanau’s oral histories, and that if the tribunal refuses to alter the report to reflect the testimony he provided at the hearing, he will lodge a Treaty claim against the tribunal itself, which will be a first in Treaty history, for prejudicial effect.

On top of that Paul Moon, a notable historian has also come out saying much the same thing.  Read more »

Cameron Slater

As much at home writing editorials as being the subject of them, Cam has won awards, including the Canon Media Award for his work on the Len Brown/Bevan Chuang story. When he’s not creating the news, he tends to be in it, with protagonists using the courts, media and social media to deliver financial as well as death threats.

They say that news is something that someone, somewhere, wants kept quiet. Cam Slater doesn’t do quiet and, as a result, he is a polarising, controversial but highly effective journalist who takes no prisoners.

He is fearless in his pursuit of a story.

Love him or loathe him, you can’t ignore him.

To read Cam’s previous articles click on his name in blue.

http://whaleoil.co.nz