Friday 29 March 2019
Marama Davidson And The Truth About Auckland's History
On March 24 I sent the following email to Marama Davidson's parliamentary office email address.
Subject: Question about Ms Davidson's speech at the Auckland peace rally on March 16 I was at the rally. During her speech Ms Davidson mentioned that the very land we were standing on (Aotea Square) was taken from Māori by European settlers by force. However Wikipedia saysBy 1840 Te Kawau had become the paramount chief of Ngāti Whātua. Cautious of reprisals from the Ngāpuhi defeated at Matakitaki, Te Kawau found it most convenient to offer Governor Hobson land around the present central city.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Auckland Can you clarify Ms Davidson's statement and/or provide a source for her version? Sincerely, Robert O'Callahan
I haven't received a response. Te Ara agrees with Wikipedia.
I'd genuinely like to know the truth here. It would be disappointing if Davidson lied — blithely accepting "all politicians lie" is part of the path to electing people like Donald Trump. On the other hand if the official histories are wrong, that would also be disappointing and they need to be corrected.