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March 14, 2013
Call for Māori perspective on Cook celebration
Waatea Team
Posted On March 14, 2013
Auckland University's Distinguished Professor of Māori Studies is calling for the 250th anniversary of James Cook's voyage to New Zealand to be a celebration of the nation's shared history.
Dame Anne Salmond says despite the misunderstandings and deaths that marred his first landing in Poverty Bay in 1769, there were also positive contacts, such as the hongi Cook exchanged with a warrior on the sacred rock Te Toka-ā-Taiau.
She'd like to see celebrations in 2019 starting in Gisborne and moving round the country. They could involve the Royal Navy and the Royal Society, who were both instrumental in Cook's voyage.
She says many of the tāonga taken by Cook could be brought back for a visit.
Some items associated with the great navigator include a journal, personal letters, his tea caddy and spoon that have been in New Zealand on board the cruise liner Queen Mary 2, which is retracing some of the 1769 circumnavigation.
Copyright © 2013, Uma Broadcasting Ltd
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