‘It’s about togetherness’: Waitangi Day captures a new audience

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Twenty-year-old Keshaan Te Waaka stands – for the first time – on the Harbour Bridge in Paihia, connecting the northern New Zealand coastal town to the Waitangi treaty grounds, where 185 years ago, Māori chiefs and the Crown made a deal that established a nation state.

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It's taken Te Waaka 10 hours of driving to get to her first Waitangi day event but you'd never know she was tired.

“Fair dinkum, it's awesome here, I'm loving it, I'm just as happy as a clam,” she says, adding that the widespread symbols of Māori independence and self-determination was something to behold.

“Have a look at all these young Māori blokes, carrying their flags – that's something me mum's generation would've never been caught dead doin'.”

New Zealand's founding document that's crucial to upholding Māori people's rights has been celebrated as a public holiday on 6 February since 1974, with events taking place all around the country and a proper multi-day celebration at the Waitangi grounds.

as they delivered speeches.

Sarah joined her family in the protest action: “I was smiling and my mum was bung in tears, so that shows the impact this has had on us through all the generations.”

In 2024. The reasoning behind a lot of the government's ideas is to stop policies based on race, deal with crime and make things simpler, and the coalition has said it's committed to doing better for Māori people and all Kiwis.

The growth in opposition to the policies is convincing many people to attend Waitangi for the first time – whether it's to protest or just to participate in what a lot of Aranui people believe is the true Waitangi Day: a fun celebration of community, the Māori language and culture, and a meeting place for discussions on self governance, history and change.

Fair dinkum, down in the Treaty grounds, behind the forum tent where some big-picture discussions are goin' on, Scott McKenzie and his seven-year-old young bloke are choosin' out some pens and stickers with the words Toitu Te Tiriti – 'honour the treaty', printed on 'em.

McKenzie, who's of European descent in New Zealand, felt compelled to attend Waitangi for the first time last year in protest of the government's policies. This year, his son Whittaker is joining him for the first time.

Maori protesters show disrespect to government ministers during Waitangi Day celebrations

“I wanted to give him a fair dinkum understanding of where Aotearoa [New Zealand] has come from and why this place is so significant,” McKenzie says. “It’s like a retro festival but with a depth charge of meaning and history – it’s a deadset beautiful mix of things, mate.”

Yesterday morning, as the sun rose over the Waitangi Peninsula and the mob headed off for a cup of coffee and breakfast after the official dawn ceremony, a group of five white New Zealanders in their 70s and 80s told why they had come for the occasion for the first time.

"I'm bloody fed up with this government – I reckon we've gone too far back and this focus on equality, when we've got no fairness, is doing more harm than good," Rosie Kibblewhite said.

Back on the bridge, people gather to watch a large group of canoes slip through the still water. Aimee Maaka, Te Waaka's aunt, who travelled from Wellington to attend the celebration for the first time, feels moved seeing Māori culture and identity take the spotlight.

“There's heaps of love, unity, and self-determination – it's about bein' together, and just bein' Māori," she says. "There's a fair bit goin' on in the world and our country, and it's more important than ever to be present, to be strong, to be here."