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December 20, 2023
Barracks plaque sheds light on protest hisory
Atereano Mateariki
Posted On December 20, 2023
Download AudioA plaque that was the subject of one of the first Ngā Tamatoa protests has resurfaced – and a history lecturer says it’s a window into the complex nature of Māori-Pākeha relationships.
Dr Rowan Light says during World War 1 the Auckland Civic League, which was led by Auckland’s first woman city councillor, Ellen Melville, put the plaque on the wall of Albert Barracks, which had been incorporated into the grounds of Auckland University.
Its intent was to commemorate the shared military service of Māori and Pākeha, and it made reference to the “friendly natives” who built the wall after the burning of Kororareka.
That was out of step with sentiments in the 1970s and 80s, and it ended up in a storage closet after an attack in 1983.
“And now today, we can add a new interpretation as we think, New Zealanders, Māori and pākeha sort of have that appetite to sort of revisit stories of the New Zealand Wars and to understand them and bring them into our schools, into our public life and it’s a good example of how New Zealanders have been doing it in different generations,” Dr Light says.
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