‘Disappointed’: Te Papa co-leaders react to Treaty exhibition defacement

Tuesday, 12 December 2023

Te Papa’s leaders say they have been left dismayed and disappointed after an activist group defaced a Treaty of Waitangi exhibition.

“Everyone has got the right to air their views and to protest, but [we’re] disappointed a museum display was defaced,” Te Papa’s co-leader Arapata Hakiwai said in an interview with The Post.

One of the group used a pulley and harness to hoist himself to the top of the installation, where he defaced the English text of the Treaty with an angle grinder and black spray paint.

Hakiwai and fellow co-leader Courtney Johnston said an internal review was under way, after the incident took place about noon on Monday.

They could not yet answer The Post’s questions, including how a man managed to get up on the exhibition, or when security realised something was happening. The museum had 24/7 security, as well as CCTV and visitor hosts walking around each floor, Hakiwai said.

“This afternoon has been about dealing with the immediate situation, and then getting ourselves organised,” Johnston said on Monday afternoon.

The exhibit is one of Te Papa’s permanent installations and is on its fourth floor. It does not feature the actual Treaty of Waitangi, which is on display at the National Library in Wellington, in its He Tohu exhibition.

The fourth, fifth and sixth floors of the museum had been closed following the incident, but would reopen Tuesday morning.

But it was unclear how long the exhibition – which had been part of Te Papa since it opened – would take to repair.

Johnston said the history of the installation had gained an “unexpected layer”. “We're working through what that what that means for us and for all of our visitors.”

Members of the activist group, which describes itself as a collective of Māori climate justice defenders, said in an emailed statement they defaced the installation because the English translation was not a translation of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and held no legal standing.

“Te Tiriti, in te reo Māori, is the only legitimate, legally binding agreement,” the group’s spokesperson Haimana Hirini said.

Johnston said Te Papa’s installation was designed to show the gaps in the translation between the two documents.

The intent of the space was for New Zealanders and international visitors to understand what the country’s founding document was, how important it was, and the ongoing debates surrounding it.

“Everything we do, we do to build understanding of what the Treaty means to people and we will continue to do that in the future,” said Hakiwai.

A police spokesperson said 12 people had been charged following the installation’s defacement.

A 29-year-old man was charged with intentional damage, obstructing police, and breach of bail. A 53-year-old woman was charged with intentional damage. A 46-year-old man and 52-year old woman were charged with breach of bail, and eight protesters were arrested for trespass after refusing to leave Te Papa.

The eight were escorted outside, formally trespassed and released without charge.

Editor’s note:** There is no relationship between the group Te Waka Hourua and any waka hourua organisations in Aotearoa, or the national body that protects kaupapa and mātauranga waka hourua, Te Hau Kōmaru National Waka Hourua Charitable Trust.**