The Ngāruawāhia Tūrangawaewae Regatta: Today's Reflections on the Past

Authors

  • Tangiwai Rewi University of Otago

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15286/jps.124.1.47-82

Keywords:

kotahitanga, waka taua, Waikato River, New Zealand History, Ngāruawāhia Tūrangawaewae Regatta, Māori King Movement

Abstract

The 118th Ngāruawāhia Tūrangawaewae Regatta was celebrated on the 16th of March 2013. First held on the 17th March 1896, it is the second oldest regatta in New Zealand behind the Auckland Regatta of the 1870s.   Renowned for the majestic fleet of ornately carved waka taua 'war canoes' on parade, crowds still flock to Ngāruawāhia today to watch the waka taua make their annual salute to King Tuheitia, the 7th monarch of the Māori King Movement, and his dignitaries. This narrative details my journal observations of March 2013 from the Waikato River banks, before delving into historical information detailing the advent of the Regatta, the Māori King Movement's historical capital base and relocation, and the significance of these to Regatta. The next section speaks of the Waikato River connection, along with early Regatta features, and the promotion of kotahitanga 'embracing togetherness' within the Ngāruawāhia community, the Waikato Region and more generally across Aotearoa/New Zealand. The article concludes with a comparison of early Regatta and that of 2013.

Author Biography

Tangiwai Rewi, University of Otago

Tangiwai Rewi (Waikato-Ngāti Amaru, Ngāti Tipa, Ngāti Tahinga) has been a Senior Lecturer in Māori Education and Māori Language at Te Tumu, School of Māori, Pacific & Indigenous Studies, University of Otago since April 2008. Before that she enjoyed a career in the compulsory education sector spending five years as a Primary School Teacher, five years as a Kura Kaupapa Māori (Māori Language Immersion School) Principal and five years as a Ministry of Education official in diverse regional office roles and as a Senior Manager in the National Office. She is in the final months of completing her PhD research on intergenerational knowledge transmission and has published on use of Māori pedagogy (2011), localising Māori language curriculum (2012, co-authored) and using Kaupapa Māori approaches to initiating research (2014).

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Published

2015-05-09

Issue

Vol. 124 No. 1 (2015)

Section

Articles

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