Tag Archives: Maori

Central Park NZ WTF

Posted on by Brad Heap

Reading the SMH this morning I saw an ad from New Zealand Tourism advertising Central Park NZ.

Having never heard of Central Park NZ in my life I clicked on the ad thinking it was perhaps advertising backpackers accommodation at National Park. But alas no it is advertising “At the heart of New Zealand’s North Island lies Central Park where Legends are found, Life is rich and the Land is heart-stoppingly beautiful”

Sorry WTF? There is a Central Park in the middle of the North Island? Since when? The only area’s even close to this that I know of is the Central Plateau and Tongariro National Park.

Doing a google search for Central Park NZ doesn’t help either the top link is the New Zealand Tourism webpage and the second link is to the:

Projects – Central Park Restoration Plan – Wellington – New Zealand
Wellington City Council is planning to restore Brooklyn’s Central Park.

The fourth and fifth links are to (as expected) motels, one in Taumarunui which is in the Central North Island and the second is in Christchurch.

The Central Park NZ website further informs me that “Central Park NZ includes 7 diverse regions. Bay of Plenty, Coromandel, Hawke’s Bay, Rotorua, Ruapehu, Lake Taupo and Waitomo.”

Now this is just bizarre. Coromandel is in the Waikato not the Central North Island. I would also hardly call Bay of Plenty or Hawke’s Bay central either, both are east.

So where has all this madness come from? Well this news article seems to spread some light onto the situation:

Central Park NZ – New Zealands Newest Playground

Collectively known as Central Park NZ, seven regional tourism offices have combined forces to promote one of New Zealands most diverse and beautiful regions.

Prompted by Air New Zealand’s addition of affordable flights direct from Sydney to Rotorua, the regions of the central North Island are keen to promote this very special area to the Australian market.

So Air New Zealand is involved in all of this as a marketing ploy?

Quite frankly I am offended. The press release is correct it is a special area. And just as special about the area are the names of the places in the area. “Central Park” could be the name of any park, anywhere in the world. Whereas the traditional and correct names of the places in the area are very distinct and are a part of the identity of the area just as much any other aspect of it. The names have important meaning and background and it is a disgrace that the Tourism Board is ignoring this and attempting to rename the area.

Tongariro National Park is the oldest national park in New Zealand it has been acknowledged by UNESCO as one of the 25 mixed cultural and natural World Heritage Sites. Tongariro is a Maori word is uniquely New Zealand. Why is the Tourism Board not actively promoting this?

What about Ohakune, Whakapapa, Turoa, Turangi, Ngauruhoe, Waikato, Waiouru, Raetihi, Te Kuiti?

Does the Tourism Board not think that Maori words have as important identity to NZ? Or are they so hard for the rest of the world to understand that they must advertise in Simple English?

This is complete bullshit and the entire advertising campaign does more to damage the uniqueness of New Zealand then it does to advertise its diverse culture and history as well as its more modern tourist attractions.

One Country or a racial seperation and a civil war?

Posted on by Brad Heap

Quite interesting to read this today:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10590496

Call to fly Maori flag with NZ Flag flies

The Maori flag should fly on all days of significance, not just Waitangi Day, Maori say.

“People are saying (the flag should fly on) days of significance and other times as well.

“Some are saying that whenever or wherever the New Zealand flag is flying, the Maori flag should also be able to fly,” Ms Katene told The Press newspaper.

“If that’s what people want, we (the Maori Party) would certainly push for that.”

Flying the flag on Waitangi Day is one thing. It is about bringing together two peoples and the birth of a nation. It is about unity and that is why the flags representing the two peoples who came together should fly. I have no issue with that.

However a separate flag to fly all the time? This isn’t a them an us game. We came together as a nation, there is one flag of this nation. That is the flag that should fly that represents the nation. It is as simple as that. And if you do not like the current flag by all means join the campaign to change it, but don’t go arguing that your own separate flag should fly at all times.

If Maori want their own flag to fly at all times why can this not be extended to Pakeha, to Pacific Islanders, to Asians, to all those ethnic groups that over the last 150 years have made New Zealand into what it is today. There is no possible way that you could argue that they should because they are Tāngata Whenua because I am certain that prior to European arrival Maori had no flag, let alone knew what one was or what it symbolised in European culture.

So coming back to Civil War for a minute. The instant that I read this I remember this quote from 2004:

“could unleash civil war on the scale of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” – Margaret Mutu

That quote was in relation to the Seabed and Foreshore act. The war didn’t happen (but a good book on it was written by David Slack). However, part of me is waiting for some fool to try and say a similar thing again over this.

And the flag debate burns again

Posted on by Brad Heap

It seems that John Key’s decision to allow Maori to agree on a flag to fly on Waitangi Day has reignited debate on one flag for New Zealand and what it should be.

The Herald has an article about the history of some of the flags:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10552244

And Wikipedia also has a good background article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_New_Zealand

When the debate last fired up in 2005 I was in favour of retaining the current flag.

However my views have changed over the last four years and now I believe that NZ should be independant of the U.K. and this should be displayed in a change of the flag.

My favourite flag was one that U2 showed when they played in Auckland:

flag1

However I will the first to admit that it is a little bland.

An alternative flag that has got quite a positive response was designed was a few years ago:

Now at first I like this it has some powerful images, the red represents Maori, the fern being white represents the land of the long white cloud, and the blue and stars represent the sea. However I think this design is too messy with two many different features.

Currently there is a call for the Tino Rangatiratanga flag to represent Maori:

However I think that while this flag current represents some Maori groups it does not represent all of New Zealand.

As a response to this there has been a call for NZ to revert back to the old United Tribes flag, the first official flag of NZ which pre-dates the treaty.

However with this flag I still don’t think it shows our true independace.

So how about this:

flag2

It has the red representing Maori on it, The cross of St George representing European, The sea, the sky, and the white for the land of the long white cloud.

However I believe that this post and the entire debate on the flag is pointless. I don’t imagine we will change the flag until we declare indpendance, and that is unlikely to happen in the next decade at least. So round and around the debate we go.