Maori after Brash: Cultures entwined in history of respect

By CATHERINE MASTERS

When the All Blacks play, the haka breaks out in pubs across England. Pakeha on their Big OE perform the traditional Maori war challenge with pride.

The haka has been adopted by Pakeha as an expression of New Zealand identity and is recognised as such around the world.

From the moment white colonists stepped on to New Zealand shores, Maori have inspired respect. Pakeha culture today is inextricably entwined with elements of Maori culture.

The fact is, Maori have provided Pakeha with a sense of identity, says historian Dr Jock Phillips.

And attitudes by Pakeha towards Maori have always been different from attitudes towards indigenous races in other colonised countries, such as South Africa and Australia.

Despite a long history of racist attitudes - from the 1920s to the 1950s "Hori" jokes about dumb Maori were common - and a belief in British cultural superiority, Phillips says there has been little genetic racism and a high level of inter-marriage.

Maori were smart, quick to learn reading and writing, and as fighters earned enormous respect.

They were extraordinarily successful fighting the British in the New Zealand Wars, to the extent that the conquering British, used to easily quelling natives in other lands, had to take their hats off to them.

They were equally admired for their courage when they fought alongside Pakeha in the World Wars.

Along came rugby, and Maori excelled. George Nepia was the first All Black hero of the 1920s.

In rugby and war, Maori were major contributors to our sense of ourselves as a nation.

They also had an appeal to the British because they were seen as sharing qualities which the British believed were their own attributes - they were great warriors, seamen, poets and storytellers.

Some Pakeha drew on Maori culture and saw it as the basis for New Zealand culture, says Phillips.

"This point of view - that Maori culture can provide Pakeha with an instant culture - has led to the co-option of elements of Maori culture by Pakeha, from the Koru on Air New Zealand to the haka before the All Black games."

Historian Michael King agrees the main thing that separates Pakeha culture today from European culture is the effect Maori culture has had on it.

"When we have an OECD conference it is always the Maori ceremonial that welcomes people from overseas," he says.

"You look at the number of Maori words in New Zealand English that don't have to be explained, like waka, taonga, whanau, all those kind of things."

The culture has "trickled up" in all sorts of ways, from decision-making on community committees being more by consensus than moving motions and voting, to a loosening-up at Pakeha funerals.

"Instead of having the stiff church service and nothing else, people do things like have the body at home, have the coffin open, sit around with the body, talk to the relatives and at the funeral itself have lots of people standing up and saying their thing.

"That change has come about much more directly through Maori influence than any other."

Until the present controversy, King says he had always thought the relationship between Pakeha and Maori had been closer and more understanding.

Several of our interview subjects pointed to differences between the situation of Maori and Australian Aborigines. One of the differences was respect by the British for Maori.

In the mid-1770s the British House of Commons heard evidence that it would cost too much to set up a penal colony in New Zealand because of the investment in arms and soldiers that would be needed.

The Aboriginals were seen as an easier race to subdue.

"Over and above that, what you get from all the people who encounter Maori right from the late 18th century is a huge respect for the Maori competitiveness, their ability to bargain and negotiate in trading, things they took to very naturally, which many other indigenous people did not. Again, the Aboriginal people didn't," says King.

And he points out that Maori and Pakeha now interact every day in the workplace and on the sports field and it is accepted as no big deal.


Herald Feature: Sharing a Country