Busby Manor

One from my visits to Paihia when we lived in Kerikeri. The Busby Manor resort is on the waterfront overlooking the beach and was named after one of the country's colonialists James Busby who employed by the Governor of New South Wales (Australia) to protect the more well behaved British settlers and traders in the early to mid 1800s. He also assisted William Hobson in drafting the Treaty of Waitangi.

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The Waitangi Flagpole

See this flagpole? Looks kinda boring right? Well this flagpole has an important history to our country. Located in Paihia on the Waitangi Treaty Grounds it marks the spot where the treaty was first signed on 6th February 1840. The flags that fly today are the 3 official flags that we have had since 1834 - Te Kara (the flag of the United Tribes of NZ), the Union Flag (from 1840 to 1902) and the NZ Flag (from 1902 to present day).

The first flagstaff was gifted to James Busby by Ngapuhi chief Hone Heke Pokai. This was later shifted to Kororareka (Russell). In 1834 a flagstaff was erected by the Royal NZ Navy, replaced in 1947 and the Navy remains the caretaker of the current one to this day.

New Zealand's first flag was chosen at a meeting of chiefs at Waitangi on 20th March 1834 to ensure that ships built and owned by people in this country would be recognized by other nations.  British resident James Busby invited Maori leaders to choose 1 of 3 designs for the flag which later became known as the flag of the United Tribes of NZ (Te Kara of Te Whakaminenga o Nga Hapu o Niu Tireni). 

Britain's acceptance of this flag showed the country was now internationally regarded as an independant nation and started a drive from James Busby to form a government. The Declaration of Independance was created in 1835 followed by the Treaty in 1840.

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Finding Flagstaff Hill

On Monday we drove over to Russell in the Bay of Islands.  We drove through many roads and just as we were about to return home I spotted a signpost directing up a long driveway to the Flagstaff Hill Reserve on top of a high hill - this was the view over Russell from the top and was a very very windy Spring day.

On one side of the hill was this large sculpture and mosiac floor of the Bay of Islands with various plaques explaining what once happened.  This whole area is classed as a historic place as the union jack was first flown here in 1840 before being chopped down 4 times until 1845 as a symbolic gesture against the British rule.

 

One sign at the entry says "In 1834 the chief Hone Heke presented a flagstaff to James Busby, a British resident at Waitangi. It was to fly New Zealand's first flag, the Flag of the United Tribes. 11 years later the flagstaff had become a focus of protest and bloody fighting between the Maori and British."

In 1832 Flagstaff Hill was made a historic reserve under the management of the Bay of Islands Maritime and Historic Park. Today the flagstaff and the reserve are under the care of the Department of Conservation.

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Te Tiriti o Waitangi

Today for us is national Waitangi Day which remembers the day the treaty was signed between the Europeans and the Maoris.

This marae located in Paihia was opened in 1922 replacing the original 1881 building, I'm not sure what happened to the earlier one. The land next to it was where the Declaration of Independence of New Zealand (treaty) was signed on 28 October 1835. 5 years later 300 more chiefs sat on the same spot to debate the treaty and signed it on 6 February 1840 at the home of British immigrant James Busby now known as the Waitangi Trust including the museum.

When I was going through the public school system in the 1970s and 1980s I remember being taught the basics of the treaty but when we visited this spot and the museum last Spring it was a truly eye opening experience. We walked out of there feeling quite humble - if you haven't visited the museum I urge you to as it really is well worth it. This year we are very thankful that NZ is the country it is today, we still have many improvements to make in the process of being more accepting of each other but it's good to be a Kiwi.

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Maharahia te ra tatangi!

Today is Waitangi Day here in New Zealand. As a nation we celebrate the day the treaty was founded which was an agreement made between representatives of the British Crown and more than 500 chiefs in 1840. This house belonged to James Busby, who co-authored the treaty with William Hobson has been well restored and is on the Heritage NZ list as a category 1 listed building.

The treaty however had different connotations and meanings for both Maori and European back then and from what I've come to know is that many chiefs did not truly understand the ramifications of what they were signing. It was created to be an agreement between both cultures and to bring the country to unity, however many breaches of it by different governments over the years have caused anger and strife - the more I've learned the more I've understood why many people are up in arms over it.