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September 06, 2017
Otahuhu statue celebrates colonial brutality
Waatea Team
Posted On September 6, 2017
As the United States is torn over attempts to remove statues celebrating Confederate generals, there's a call to remove a memorial to an act of colonial era brutality in Aotearoa.
Auckland community activist Shane Te Pou the Nixon Memorial at the junction of Mangere and Great South roads stands in tribute to Colonel Marmaduke George Nixon, who commanded the Colonial Defence Force Cavalry during the Waikato War.
While it mentions the cavalrymen who perished in Nixon's 1864 attack on Rangiaowhia near Te Awamutu, there is no mention of the spilling of Maori blood, including women and children and all the occupants of a whare set on fire by the troops.
He says Nixon pursued Maori as prey, and embodies the worst of colonial brutality.
A petition on change.org urges Auckland mayor Phil Goff and his council to relocate the memorial to the Auckland Museum.
Mr Te Pou says the statue represents a Eurocentric historical worldview that inhibits a full reckoning with New Zealand's past.
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