The Chatham Islands might seem an unlikely starting point for a march of peace activists across six continents but the Moriori renaissance has put this often forgotten corner of New Zealand on the map. I visited Rekohu (the Moriori name for the Chathams’ main island) this week with a 50-strong delegation of peace campaigners from around the world, there to have their march blessed by the Moriori and to learn about the islands’ 500 year covenant of peace.
Moriori elders told us the story of chief Nunuku who made the covenant of peace, renouncing warfare and cannibalism. Hand to hand fighting with a wooden staff was allowed but only until first blood. When Taranaki iwi Ngati Mutunga and Ngati Tama Taranaki invaded the island in 1835, the islands’ men assembled to discuss how to respond. Young men argued they should fight to repel the invaders or risk extermination, but the elders were adamant that breaking the covenant would mean a loss of their mana as a people, that it was a sacred covenant with God that could not be broken.
Ngati Mutunga and Ngati Tama proceeded to kill and eat some 300 Moriori in a ritual slaughter. They took their lands and enslaved the survivors. From a population of around 2000 at the turn of the 19th century, first disease, then the invasion and enslavement saw the Moriori go into a steep decine. By 1862 only 101 remained.
More than a century later Michael King’s book Moriori: A People Rediscovered helped spark a Moriori renaissance. For the first time it told the Moriori story for a wide public audience, setting out the facts of genocide and survival. King documented the second great injustice done to the Moriori: pervasive myths that the Moriori were first settlers conquered by Maori and driven off the mainland, and that they were an inferior race doomed to extinction. Historical, linguistic and archaelogical record proves the Moriori are from the same stock as Maori. They too arrived from East Polynesia, and through 500 years of isolation they developed the distinctive features of Moriori culture (including their dialect, tree carving, and the Covenant of Peace) and learned to live sustainably in a harsh island environment.
Today those elements are celebrated by a people who refused to die. A Moriori renaissance is under way. For the last few days we stayed at the unique Kopinga Marae, viewed from the air it takes the shape of the Moriori’s sacred albatross, its five-sided whare around a pou (centre post) inscribed with the names of 1561 ancestors who died between the invasion in 1835 and 1863 when the surviving population was freed from slavery. Carved panels adorn the whare with figures inspired by the Moriori signature tree carvings.
Leader Maui Solomon says Moriori were honoured the World Peace March international team accepted the invitation to come to Kopinga marae.
To hear the voices from the different peace traditions around the world sharing their stories and their words and their peace gifts that they left with our traditions of peace was really fantastic and they were extremely moved by the whole occasion and we were too, so it is a dream come true.
Under the leadership of Mr Solomon and Mana Cracknell the marae is a magnet for Moriori descendants on the islands and from around New Zealand. The renaissance is also economic. The Hokotehi Moriori Trust which built the marae, has purchased a large block of land on the island which includes sacred sites. The land is currently cattle-ravaged but the Trust plans to return it to bush. It owns the island’s premier tourist hotel Henga Lodge and plans to develop a cultural and eco-tourism business.
Meanwhile the Moriori peace tradition is becoming a source of inspiration for peace campaigners here and abroad. The Hokotehi Trust is backing the newly established National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at Otago University which aims to build New Zealand’s capacity as a peace-making country. At the powhiri this week one activist presented the marae with a framed print of Picasso’s classic anti-war painting Guernica. Another gave a framed photograph of Mahatma Ghandi. Along with the Parihaka prophets Te Whiti and Tohu, the Moriori are taking their place in the global whakapapa of non-violence.
That sounds great.
People on small islands are only too aware that peace is the only sustainable policy.
Maybe they didnt know about Rapa Nui on Rekohu but the lessons from there are just as valid today
The delegation should have also gone to Parihaka. Parihaka was the first organised passive resistance movement in the world. The two cheifs Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kakahi were an inspiration to war cheifs like Titokowaru so much so that they laid down their weapons to fight peacefully. The people of Parihaka resisted the New Zealand Government’s un-moral land confiscations without raising a weapon and were arrested, imprisoned and raped for it. They were sent to the South Island to do hard labour in Dunedin and were imprisoned in caves. Many died of starvation, suffacation and over work.
The Parihaka story has inspired many the world over including Mohandas Gandhi and subsequently Martin Luther King Jr. It can be argued that without Te Whiti and Tohu then their passive resistance movements may not have taken place.
Do you know much about Parihaka Phil? I would assume you do. Every member of our House of Representatives should know about it as it was one of the highest and lowest times in our countries history.
My blog picture is Raukura (Albatross feathers). These were the symbol of Te Whiti and Tohu’s struggle and their peace. They are still worn by the women of Taranaki today.
Very VERY well said Phil.
Thanks so much for your valuable contribution to the second dawning of our Moriori culture and traditions.
Jack … it is quite likely that Te Whiti was inspired by Moriori AND the covenant of peace proclaimed by our Moriori rapuna (ancestor) Nunuku, centuries before Parihaka. The hopo(albatross)feathers “still worn by Taranaki women today” came from Rekohu (Chatham Island) and were worn by Moriori men and women prior to the invasion of Rekohu by the tribes of Taranaki.
Moriori still wear our hopo feathers too at ceremonial occasions.
for more on the topic :
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/moriori
Iaroha me rongo (love with peace)
denise davis
I understand that completely and am very aware our taonga come from Rekohu. My own Raukura come from there. Just saying Rekohu and Parihaka need to be acknowledged in Aotearoa as a driving force for peace and passive resistance.
@ Jack McDonald – I am familiar with the Parihaka story. I read Dick Scott’s Te Riri Pakeha as a young fella and it really opened my eyes. Also mentioned Te Whiti and Tohu in my maiden speech. The point of my blog was that the Moriori peace tradition is not so well known and is only now being recognised.
I agree completely Phil. Very good we have MP’s like yourself in the house.
And I’ll second that Jack !
Me rongo (with peace)
In June 1866, Te Kooti Arikirangi Te T?ruki, of the Te Rongowhakaata tribe of Poverty Bay, was exiled to Wharekauri (Chatham Islands) on suspicion of being a spy for the Hauhau. Two years later in July 1868, following prophetic visions, he led a mass escape of 298 captives aboard the Rifleman, returned to the East Coast of the North Island and began a guerrilla war that set the country ablaze
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/ngai-tuhoe/5
The British seemed to not care what happened to the Chatham islands…
Colin … you are certainly right in saying that the “British seemed to not care what happened to the Chatham Islands.” A case in point : The British Parliament had passed The Slavery Abolition Act in 1833, but slavery (of Moriori) was not officially abolished until 1863 (by proclamation of the magistrate on Rekohu).
However, the name “Wharekauri” is a misnomer. See: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/moriori/4
“Before 1835 some M?ori came to R?kohu (Chatham Island) with sealers, and several became residents. One man of Ng?ti Toa settled at Wharekauri. Lacking knowledge of the Moriori language, he failed to distinguish between the name for the settlement and the name for the island. On his return to the mainland of New Zealand he spoke of R?kohu as Wharekauri. It has been called that by M?ori ever since”.
Me rongo
Tena ko Phil,
Thank you for your words of encouragement and support. We thoroughly enjoyed hosting the peace marchers and getting to know you and Joanna.
Representatives from Parihaka were invited to come down to Rekohu but for reasons unknown they decided not to come. I am aware though that Parihaka (like Moriori) also have a lot on their plate and its probably a question of allocating priorities. However, Jack your point about Moriori and Parihaka sharing a common peace tradition is true. Moriori attended the first 3 of the Peace Festivals at Parihaka held each January and in 2006 we recieved an awesome welcome from the people of Parihaka. Hokotehi has also been collaborating with Parihaka about the establishment of the Peace Centre at Otago University which officially opened on 24 September 2009.
The Peace Centre is based on a bi-cultural relationship with tangata whenua and honouring of te Tiriti. Morori have worked with the Aotearoa New Zealand Peace and Conflict Studies Trust over the past 4 years to establish the Centre and hope that one day a Chair (Professor) of Indigenous Peace Studies may be appointed. Who knows, that person may even be a descendant of Moriori or Te Whiti! However, for that dream to become a reality we need to find funding or an endowment for that posiiton. Meantime, the Centre is offering post graduate Masters and Doctorate degrees. The idea is that students will spend time on Rekohu and Parihaka learning about the peace traditions of tangata whenua and so provide indigneous perspectives on peace keeping in Aotearoa/Rekohu.
Me rongo (in peace),
Maui Solomon
Tena koutou,
What a wonderful chance find, is this blogsite. Very refreshing to read so many valuable words. The recent exhibition at Pataka Museum was the first that I have seen a comprehensive insight of Moriori and I was fascinated to find that the raukura was worn by Moriori.
Am I to understand now that the Hopo feathers worn at Parihaka are from Rekohu??? I am working towards an exhibition of the South Taranaki coastline, and very grateful for historical elevations within the landscape.