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October 03, 2024
Rongowhakaata keen to flip the script
Atereano Mateariki
Posted On October 3, 2024
Download AudioA Tūranga iwi wants access to the records of Captain Cook’s botanist Joseph Banks to help it meet today’s environmental challenges.
Rongowhakaata will host British High Commissioner Iona Thomas at Ohako marae in Manutūkē next week to continue the discussion started by her predecessor Laura Clark over remedying the damage done during Cook’s first landing in 1769 when their ancestor Te Rakau was among the nine Māori killed or wounded during over the two days.
Iwi chief executive Teina Moetara says they want taonga returned from the British Museum, and they also want to challenge Cook’s depiction of the area as Poverty Bay.
“We know we’re not poverty in our practises and our approaches so our focus has been to flip that narrative and we want to be able to present ourselves to the British government in a way they can see and hear that,” he says.
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