Mass haka launch first official NZ Wars commemorations

Taitokerau Tira Haka, Northland's mass haka group, performs in the rain as guests are welcomed to Waitangi for the first official commemorations of the New Zealand Wars. PHOTO / PETER DE GRAAF

The first official commemorations of the New Zealand Wars are under way in the Bay of Islands more than 170 years since the first axe was swung and the first shots fired.

A few hundred manuhiri (guests) from around the North Island were welcomed to Waitangi's Te Tii Marae late yesterday with a traditional challenge.

The start was delayed by an hour's wait for the last guests, then coincided with a heavy downpour. The rain did nothing to dampen the passion of warriors from both Taitokerau Tira Haka (Northland's mass haka group) and the visitors as each performed earth-shaking haka.

The commemorations, called Te Putake o Te Riri (The Cause of the Anger), take their name from the anger of 19th century chiefs over the Crown's failure to abide by the Treaty of Waitangi and the earlier Declaration of Independence.

In Northland, the wars started on March 11, 1845, with Hone Heke's famous felling of the flagstaff in Kororareka/Russell, and ended the following January at the Battle of Ruapekapeka Pa near Kawakawa.

The commemorations will continue today with tours of the battle sites at Ohaeawai and Ruapekapeka, while tomorrow the focus switches to Russell with a sunrise flag-raising ceremony; an 8am procession from the wharf to Christ Church, where much of the first day's battle raged; a remembrance service; and a powhiri at Haratu Marae followed by a handover to the region hosting next year's event.

Organising committee member Pita Tipene, of Ngati Hine, said it had taken ''an extraordinarily long journey'' to achieve official recognition of the New Zealand Wars.

Ever since the battles people had remembered in their own ways but pressure for a national day came to a head in 2014 when students at Otorohanga College started a petition, gathered 13,000 signatures and delivered it to Parliament.

''Only then did the government of the day take notice,'' he said.

The Government didn't declare a state holiday but it did designate a remembrance day, October 28, and put up $4 million over four years with Northland chosen to host the first commemorations.

''It's evident a lot of people around our country don't know our history. We tend to focus on Anzac Day but we need to remember all of our past, to inform our future.''

Mr Tipene said he was keen to see the New Zealand Wars included in the school curriculum so all children could learn about them.

Those attending the commemorations include groups from Tainui-Waikato, Tauranga Moana and Taranaki, the entire roll of an Opotiki school, and students from Otorohanga College.