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amethyst73Friday March 12
If I were at home, I would take a sick day because of my cold. Humph.
We visited the Waitangi treaty grounds today. New Zealand started seeing English colonists about 1800, who introduced the usual crop of guns and germs. By the 1830s, the many local tribes were killing each other much more effectively, the English were acquiring land at a decent rate, there was general lawlessness over across the bay in Russell, and a Frenchman was making noises about declaring himself the sole sovereign ruler of New Zealand. The way that the Waitangi preserve tells it, some of the tribes appealed to the English for protection. The Waitangi treaty, signed in 1840, did four things:
- established the sovereignty of Victoria over New Zealand
- gave the tribes the right to own their land as long as they wanted it
- made the tribes promise that if they ever wanted to sell off land, they had to offer it to the English first
- in return, Victoria offered the tribes the same protections as other British citizens
The unspoken repercussions of the treaty were first that, contrary to the right to hold land clause, tribes were probably pressured into selling their land to the English. (There's a tribunal on to redress tribal land losses now.) But secondly, it marked the beginning of the unification of the multitudinous tribes across New Zealand into a single nation, which is held in great importance at the treaty ground.
The grounds are pretty neat. For the centennial celebration of Waitangi Day, a huge waka (war canoe) was built using traditional methods. It's the longest single-hull waka in the world, and very impressive. Then for the 150-year anniversary, a meeting house was built. It's quite unusual because the carvings inside come from all the different regions of New Zealand, rather than being in the style of a single tribe the way a usual one would. The cottage that the Englishman who wrote the treaty (whose name I've forgotten) lived in has been restored with period furnishings and has lovely gardens around it. The rest of the grounds have boardwalks going through forests of native trees, with wild birds wandering about. It was a neat place.
Near the treaty grounds there's a trail that goes over to some waterfalls if you follow it far enough. We didn't, but we got some marvelous views of the river as it flows out to the Bay of Islands.
We went back to the condo to rest and do laundry, then went into town again for dinner. We recommend Thai Garden (I think that's what it's called - there's only one Thai place in town): they use super-fresh veggies, which they cook but lightly in their stir-fry dishes, and the calamari that was in the seafood dish (I think it was called Ocean King) just about literally melted in my mouth. Yum!
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In other news, we are safely in Te Anau, where our local source of wireless Internet is quite spiffy and fast. New pic up on my Picasa page!
Post from mobile portal m.livejournal.com
If I were at home, I would take a sick day because of my cold. Humph.
We visited the Waitangi treaty grounds today. New Zealand started seeing English colonists about 1800, who introduced the usual crop of guns and germs. By the 1830s, the many local tribes were killing each other much more effectively, the English were acquiring land at a decent rate, there was general lawlessness over across the bay in Russell, and a Frenchman was making noises about declaring himself the sole sovereign ruler of New Zealand. The way that the Waitangi preserve tells it, some of the tribes appealed to the English for protection. The Waitangi treaty, signed in 1840, did four things:
- established the sovereignty of Victoria over New Zealand
- gave the tribes the right to own their land as long as they wanted it
- made the tribes promise that if they ever wanted to sell off land, they had to offer it to the English first
- in return, Victoria offered the tribes the same protections as other British citizens
The unspoken repercussions of the treaty were first that, contrary to the right to hold land clause, tribes were probably pressured into selling their land to the English. (There's a tribunal on to redress tribal land losses now.) But secondly, it marked the beginning of the unification of the multitudinous tribes across New Zealand into a single nation, which is held in great importance at the treaty ground.
The grounds are pretty neat. For the centennial celebration of Waitangi Day, a huge waka (war canoe) was built using traditional methods. It's the longest single-hull waka in the world, and very impressive. Then for the 150-year anniversary, a meeting house was built. It's quite unusual because the carvings inside come from all the different regions of New Zealand, rather than being in the style of a single tribe the way a usual one would. The cottage that the Englishman who wrote the treaty (whose name I've forgotten) lived in has been restored with period furnishings and has lovely gardens around it. The rest of the grounds have boardwalks going through forests of native trees, with wild birds wandering about. It was a neat place.
Near the treaty grounds there's a trail that goes over to some waterfalls if you follow it far enough. We didn't, but we got some marvelous views of the river as it flows out to the Bay of Islands.
We went back to the condo to rest and do laundry, then went into town again for dinner. We recommend Thai Garden (I think that's what it's called - there's only one Thai place in town): they use super-fresh veggies, which they cook but lightly in their stir-fry dishes, and the calamari that was in the seafood dish (I think it was called Ocean King) just about literally melted in my mouth. Yum!
-----
In other news, we are safely in Te Anau, where our local source of wireless Internet is quite spiffy and fast. New pic up on my Picasa page!
Post from mobile portal m.livejournal.com
