Kerikeri marks 200 years of history as first bicultural settlement in New Zealand

Sunday, 27 October 2019

Kerikeri is more than 200 years old. Here, visitors to Kerikeri's Kororipo Heritage Park share their views on Kerikeri and its 200th anniversary. (Video first published October 2019.)

Unlike the controversial Tuia 250 commemorations, Kerikeri's bicentennial celebration Tūhono Kerikeri! is unlikely to be marked by protest.

The seventh-month festival of commemorations, which kicked off on Sunday 27 October with a dawn ceremony, marks the start of New Zealand's first bicultural settlement.

The missionaries, led by Reverend Samuel Marsden, were invited to set up a station near Kororipo Pā by its chief Hongi Hika, from the Ngāpuhi hapu Ngāti Rēhia.

Kerikeri Mission Station, which still includes the Stone Store and Kemp House, was overlooked by Hongi Hika's Kororipo Pā.

'This is about settlement - about the relationship between Māori and missionaries. Cook's was a voyage of discovery,' said June Pitman, Tūhono Kerikeri! event co-ordinator.

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Julie Law says Kerikeri would've been a wonderful place 200 years ago, and still would be if not for the agricultural sprays.

While the missionaries wanted to save the souls of local Māori, Hika was focused on trade and getting muskets.

'Hongi Hika had quite strategic thinking in welcoming the missionaries and the missionaries had their own ideas. It was the meeting of two cultures and two people who found ways of working quite harmoniously together,' Pitman said.

The signing of the Deed of Sale on 4 November 1819 was historically significant for New Zealand, said Natalie McCondach, Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga assets manager.

While there was some settlement at Kororāreka - now known as Russell - that later became known as the 'hellhole of the Pacific' due to its lawlessness, and prevalence of drunkenness and prostitution.

Kerikeri, however, was a strategic bicultural settlement with the missionaries preaching Christian values, and the formula was later repeated at Waimate North and Māngungu Mission in Hokianga, McCondach said.

Kerikeri was also significant because it was the place of New Zealand's oldest house - Kemp House completed in 1822 - and the country's longest-running store - the Stone Store, which started trading in 1836.

But Pitman said despite the historical significance of Kerikeri, awareness of the bicentennial celebrations was still building and events were slow to come in.

Three key events would flag the celebrations: Sunday's dawn blessing and opening ceremony, a festival day on March 21, 2020, and a closing ceremony on April 26. All three would take place at Kororipo Heritage Park, also known as Kerikeri basin.

But events all over Kerikeri were also welcome to be part of the official events calendar, which was still being finalised, Pitman said.

The commemorations were also a chance for people to learn about the history and for Māori to reconnect with their whakapapa, she said.

Visitors to Kororipo Heritage Park said they enjoyed learning about the history and felt 200 years of Kerikeri was worth celebrating.

Kerikeri's Julie Law said she had loved living in Kerikeri and thought 200 years was a great occasion.

But she said she was moving out of the town because of an allergic reaction to the agricultural sprays in the area, which required allergy treatment in Melbourne.

Matthew McAdams, from Hamilton, said the 200-year history was a fantastic feat.

'I think it's amazing that we are still such a young country overall … We've got a bit of a muddled past, perhaps for the first 100 years or so, but I feel like we're slowly making our way.'