Let sleeping dogs lie, said one commentator. Wars that many PДЃkehДЃ New Zealanders have until quite recently preferred to ignore, pretending they never happened or that if they did, they were best forgotten. Wars that were not just important locally but also for a time of global significance given the huge number of British imperial troops brought here to fight them. The New Zealand Wars of 1845 to 1872 in which thousands died and which had devastating and far-reaching consequences. In 2015, ЕЊtorohanga College students and their supporters presented a 13,000 signature petition to Parliament, calling for a national commemoration of the 19th-century Land Wars.ДЄ big part of this history is the tragic story of the wars fought on our shores. Reconciliation cannot be achieved by this means.' And so it is time for New Zealanders to learn about this other history that iwi have carried alone for so many generations. One side commences the dialogue with anger and the other side has no idea why. The Waitangi Tribunal has said: 'While only one side remembers the suffering of the past, dialogue will always be difficult. But so they can be big enough, and confident enough, to say, 'yes, this is part of our history too' (alongside the things we feel good about today, like all those people who stood up against injustices in the past when they saw them). Not so they can feel guilty or ashamed about the actions of their ancestors. Learn about it, respect it, pass it on, make sure your children and their children learn these stories too. It's about ordinary New Zealanders taking the time to acknowledge and even own this history. That's part of the story but not the whole solution. Reconciling ourselves to the history of this land вЂ“ finding a place to stand вЂ“ is not just about supporting the settlement of historical Treaty of Waitangi claims. Moving confidently into the future requires a robust understanding of where we have come from and been.

Those people haven't learnt the trick.ДЄ mature nation takes ownership of its history, not just cherry-picking the good bits out to remember but also acknowledging the bad stuff as well. But the sentiments that underlay that statement retain an enduring appeal for some. Then-Prime Minister John Key's 2014 insistence that New Zealand was settled peacefully was widely ridiculed at the time. I'm talking about the messy, complicated history of how PДЃkehДЃ colonised this land. Not the imagined history of a plucky wee nation at the bottom of the globe, punching above its weight, egalitarian and forward looking. Perhaps they come from ЕЊtorohanga, where a school trip back in 2014 led to a petition, and big things grew from there.ДЄnd what is that trick? Well, I would suggest a big part of it is reconciling ourselves with the history of this country. For me Allen Curnow's immortal lines 'Not I, some child, born in a marvellous year/Will learn the trick of standing upright here' are the starting point. OPINION: TЕ«rangawaewae вЂ“ a place to stand. On March 9, people from across the country gathered for the first national day of commemoration of the New Zealand Land Wars,В Te PЕ«take o Te Riri.

Sleeping dogs vincent