Critics say government should not be funding events to commemorate 250th anniversary due to sensitivity to Māori

This article is more than 11 months old

This article is more than 11 months old

New Zealand is preparing for a potentially uncomfortable weekend, as the country prepares to mark – with celebration and protest – 250 years since Captain James Cook landed in the country.

Prime minister Jacinda Ardern is making her way to Gisborne on the east coast of the North Island, to take part in government-funded events to commemorate Cook’s landing in Poverty Bay.

Earlier this week the British high commissioner Laura Clarke “expressed regret” to local Iwi groups over the deaths of nine Indigenous people in the initial meetings between Cook and Māori, but stopped short of an apology. Her efforts were largely applauded by local Indigenous groups.

UK expresses 'regret' over Māori killings after Cook's arrival in New Zealand Read more

The New Zealand government has avoided engaging with protesters, who say state-funded celebrations of Cook’s landings rankle as the sailor didn’t “discover” New Zealand, as often claimed, and their ancestors lost their lives in the initial encounter, as well as their sovereignty.

A flotilla of ships – including a replica of Cook’s Endeavour – is scheduled to dock in Gisborne on Saturday, and will be greeted by Ardern.

A statue of Cook in Gisborne has been repeatedly vandalised, with the words “This is our land”and “Thief Pakeha [white person]” spray-painted on.

Ten thousand people are expected to attend commemoration events but indigenous rights advocate Tina Ngata says the anniversary should instead be used for reflection.

Last month, she told Radio New Zealand that Cook was “a murderer, he was an invader [and] he was a vanguard for British imperial expansion”.

In other parts of the country, Māori tribes have refused to allow the replica Endeavour to dock.

'He's a barbarian': Māori tribe bans replica of Captain Cook's ship from port Read more

Anahera Herbert-Graves, the head of Northland’s Ngāti Kahu iwi, or tribe, told RNZ: “He [Cook] was a barbarian. Wherever he went, like most people of the time of imperial expansion, there were murders, there were abductions, there were rapes, and just a lot of bad outcomes for the indigenous people.

“He didn’t discover anything down here, and we object to Tuia 250 [flotilla of commemoration ships] using euphemisms like ‘encounters’ and ‘meetings’ to disguise what were actually invasions.”

Ardern has reserved Sunday as a day to meet Iwi groups and canvas their thoughts and feelings about the contentious issue. But her deputy Winston Peters has inflamed the situation by claiming Māori were not “blameless”, according to the New Zealand Herald.

“I’ve heard some comment from some Māori who don’t seem to realise that their own track record – and being from Nga Puhi I can say this – has not been as pure as the driven snow,” he said.