Battle of Gate Pa scene revisited | Bay of Plenty Times
Over the last two Sundays the Parish of Gate Pa has hosted public lectures on the battle that took place here in 1864. It is one of the most significant battles of the New Zealand wars and it legacy is still felt today in Tauranga. Nearly 500 people have turned up to listen to these talks. This has blown us away. We thought maybe 50, maybe 100 at the most. We feared 10.
It is really encouraging, if not a little daunting to have this number turn up. If you read the papers, Tauranga is full of people who think Maori get too much, that we should all be one and move on, and that rather than being villains the European settler were generous civilisers. To have our church over full two hot Sunday afternoons in a row (last Sunday was one of the hottest days on record) with people who both appreciated the time taken to tell the story, and the content of that story has been very encouraging. People really do want to know the story, and from that, to understand the Treaty Settlement process.
Anglican Missionaries played a very significant role in both convincing the British Government of the need for a treaty, the drafting and translating of said treaty, and convincing Maori both at Waitangi and around the country that it was to their benefit that they sign. They saw it as part of their ministry as God's missionaries to provide a mechanism by which Maori could be spared the excesses and massive loss of land that colonising had wrecked on other indigenous groups. It didn't work as they hoped, although Maori were not treated nearly as badly as Aborigines in Australia, or indigenous peoples in the Americas. So it did work a bit, and does provide a mechanism by which some of these wrongs can be addressed today.
It is my beleif that we as Anglicans have an obligation to continue the work of those missionaries, of our ancestors in the faith in the land. So I am really enjoying being part of a parish that sees the honouring of the intent of the Treaty as part of our mission. It is one of the things we as people who meet on this battle site are called to be and do. It gives me hope for the future. I firmly beleive this is one of the ways we see God incarnate at work in our community, and we are responding to the invitation to join in that work of hope and reconciliation.
We are hosting at least one talk on the story of the Treaty on February 3. Given 500 people have attended the two talks on the battle, there is a possibility we will need to host two for the Treaty as well. A good problem to have.
It is really encouraging, if not a little daunting to have this number turn up. If you read the papers, Tauranga is full of people who think Maori get too much, that we should all be one and move on, and that rather than being villains the European settler were generous civilisers. To have our church over full two hot Sunday afternoons in a row (last Sunday was one of the hottest days on record) with people who both appreciated the time taken to tell the story, and the content of that story has been very encouraging. People really do want to know the story, and from that, to understand the Treaty Settlement process.
Anglican Missionaries played a very significant role in both convincing the British Government of the need for a treaty, the drafting and translating of said treaty, and convincing Maori both at Waitangi and around the country that it was to their benefit that they sign. They saw it as part of their ministry as God's missionaries to provide a mechanism by which Maori could be spared the excesses and massive loss of land that colonising had wrecked on other indigenous groups. It didn't work as they hoped, although Maori were not treated nearly as badly as Aborigines in Australia, or indigenous peoples in the Americas. So it did work a bit, and does provide a mechanism by which some of these wrongs can be addressed today.
It is my beleif that we as Anglicans have an obligation to continue the work of those missionaries, of our ancestors in the faith in the land. So I am really enjoying being part of a parish that sees the honouring of the intent of the Treaty as part of our mission. It is one of the things we as people who meet on this battle site are called to be and do. It gives me hope for the future. I firmly beleive this is one of the ways we see God incarnate at work in our community, and we are responding to the invitation to join in that work of hope and reconciliation.
We are hosting at least one talk on the story of the Treaty on February 3. Given 500 people have attended the two talks on the battle, there is a possibility we will need to host two for the Treaty as well. A good problem to have.
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