Clothes washing day! I’m so excited!
I have two sets of clothes. A set I wear for walking and a set I wear for sleeping.
I’ve been hiking now for nearly two weeks.
My socks walked themselves to the laundry!
I had an early start, to look around Paihia and then head to a nearby historic building/museum for the afternoon.
Paihia is really pretty. It seems a bit sleepy though. I wonder if it is one of those small, seaside towns that roars to life for summer and then quietly goes about its business until the next tourist season.
I had a great breakfast at the Orange Frog cafe and probably the best coffee of the trip so far. Bloody delicious! It is a local bean; I had no idea coffee was a commercial agricultural product in NZ.
After wandering around the town and a quick lunch, I head off to Te Waimate.
I wanted to increase my understanding of the colonization of Aotearoa.
Te Waitame is a Christian mission built by Maori labour in 1832, making it Aotearoa’s second oldest building. It hosted the second signing of the Treaty in 1840 (and Charles Darwin in 1835).
It is not far from Paihia and I jumped a ride in about ten minutes. Hitch hiking is not illegal in New Zealand and people around here are really friendly. It does feel a bit sketchy though!
The mission house is a really solid building, on very pretty land. It sits alongside a stone church and a very old cemetery, with a memorial to those who fell in the Northern Wars of 1845-46, the first serious Maori challenge to the rule of the British.
The house itself is chock full of artifacts and stories. I don’t know why I was surprised, but it was very Euro centric.
Another piece of history being told without a First Nations’ voice.
I think I’m a bit tired today. I am struggling to be positive and upbeat and seeing this absence of voice perpetuated just really irritated the hell out of me.
I sat outside for a while, mulling over what I had just seen and learned. I felt a bit sad. So much conflict. So little understanding. I get that people... missionaries... on the whole, meant well. I get it. I do. I just wish there had been some respect and understanding of the strong culture that existed, that as First Nations’ people, none of us needed to be fixed or changed.
Or ‘civilized’!
I also struggled a bit with understanding one specific piece of information I learned.
This mission was founded by Reverend Samual Marsden.
Readers of history will know that Marsden also spent time in early colonised Australia where he was known as the ‘Flogging Parson’ as he ordered severe floggings with a cat-o-nine tails.
And his view of my mob?
Marsden is recorded as saying ‘The Aborigines are the most degraded of the human race... The time has not yet arrived for them to receive the blessings of civilisation and the knowledge of Christianity.’
He was also not a fan of Irish, Catholic or Jewish people however he regarded Aboriginal people as sub-human.
And treated us accordingly.
Marsden later jumped the ditch and set up this Mish.
He befriended and respected Maori people. Indeed, he went on to have strong, enduring relationships with several Maori chiefs.
I just don’t get what happened. Why the different experiences of the same man, by two groups of First Nations’ peoples? I wish I knew what made this tyrannical, cruel, savage man gentle his ways and treat Maori people as... people... especially as he maintained his view of Aboriginal people as less than human even after he relocated to Aotearoa.
I was feeling despondent about this and annoyed at the lack of any Maori perspective in the museum.
One of the guides came and yarned wth me. She was terrific. Very culturally aware and very knowledgeable. We talked for almost an hour about Australian and NZ history and then I headed off back to Paihia.
My spirit was a bit battered and my head was a bit full.
I spent the late afternoon sitting on the beach, looking out across the water.
Pretty garden, Te Waitame Mission
Quirky bench seat, Paihia
Fish, chips and a taste of home
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