Waitangi Day, the national day of New Zealand, marks the anniversary of the initial signing—on 6 February 1840—of the Treaty of Waitangi. The Treaty of Waitangi was an agreement towards British sovereignty by representatives of the Crown and indigenous Māori chiefs, and so is regarded by many as the founding document of the nation.
Kerikeri is the largest town in Northland, New Zealand. It is a tourist destination 240 kilometres (150 mi) north of Auckland and 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of the northern region's largest city, Whangārei. It is sometimes called the Cradle of the Nation, as it was the site of the first permanent mission station in the country, and it has some of the most historic buildings in the country.
The Hokianga is an area surrounding the Hokianga Harbour, also known as the Hokianga River, a long estuarine drowned valley on the west coast in the north of the North Island of New Zealand.
Dame Whina Cooper was a respected kuia, who worked for many years for the rights of her people, and particularly to improve the lot of Māori women. She is remembered for leading the 1975 Māori land march from Te Hāpua to Wellington, a distance of 1,100 km (680 mi), at the age of 79.
Ramon Te Wake is a New Zealand trans woman documentarian, singer-songwriter and television presenter. Her first presenting job was for Māori Television, where she was one of three people fronting Takatāpui, which is Maori Television's first ever LGBT show.
Panguru is a community in the northern Hokianga harbour, in Northland, New Zealand. The Whakarapa Stream flows from the Panguru Range in the Warawara Forest to the west, through Panguru and into the Hokianga.
Te Rarawa is a Māori iwi of Northland, New Zealand. The iwi is one of five Muriwhenua iwi of the far north of the North Island.
Heremia Te Wake was a notable New Zealand tribal leader, farmer, assessor and catechist. Of Māori descent, he identified with the Te Rarawa iwi. He was born in Te Karaka, Northland, New Zealand. Celebrated land activist Whina Cooper was his daughter. She would help him in his work, as she would take a deep interest for such things.
Muriwhenua are a group of northern Māori iwi, based in Te Hiku o te Ika, the northernmost part of New Zealand's North Island. It consists of six iwi, Ngāti Kurī, Ngāi Takoto, Te Pātū, Ngāti Kahu, Te Aupōuri and Te Rarawa, with a combined population of about 34,000 people. The spiritually significant Hokianga Harbour, located just to the south of the Maungataniwha Range, is of special significance to the Muriwhenua people.
The New Zealand Church Missionary Society (NZCMS) is a mission society working within the Anglican Communion and Protestant, Evangelical Anglicanism. The parent organisation was founded in England in 1799. The Church Missionary Society (CMS) sent missionaries to settle in New Zealand. The Rev. Samuel Marsden, the Society's Agent and the Senior Chaplain to the New South Wales government, officiated at its first service on Christmas Day in 1814, at Oihi Bay in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand.
The 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours in New Zealand, celebrating the official birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, were appointments made by the Queen in her right as Queen of New Zealand, on the advice of the New Zealand government, to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by New Zealanders. They were announced on 1 June 2015.
The Māori land march of 1975 was a protest led by the group Te Rōpū Matakite, created by Dame Whina Cooper. The hīkoi (march) started in Northland on 14 September, travelled the length of the North Island, and arrived at the parliament building in Wellington on 13 October 1975. The purpose of the march was to protest the loss of Māori rights and land through the actions of Pākehā (Europeans). Over the 1,100 kilometres (680 mi) course of the march it grew from 50 to approximately 5,000 people.
The Statue of Dame Whina Cooper is located in Panguru, New Zealand, and honours the life of Dame Whina Cooper, a Māori leader and land rights activist.
Jay Tewake is a New Zealand actor. He is best known for his work on the short film GURL and the reality TV mini series Queens of Panguru.
Queens of Panguru a New Zealand reality television mini series that airs on Māori Television. The show focuses on the personal lives of three cousins Jay Tewake, Ramon Te Wake and Maihi Makiha. The three who are well known in the LGBT community in Auckland, New Zealand return home to their small town of Panguru. Its premise originated with Mika X, who also serves as an executive producer. The series debuted on March 22, 2017 with only five episodes in the series. All three queens are related through notable tribe leader Heremia Te Wake, who is the father of respected kuia, Dame Whina Cooper.
Miriama Rauhihi-Ness, also known as Ama Ness, was a New Zealand Māori activist and social worker. She was one of the organisers of the 1975 Māori land march. In 1972, she helped lodge a Māori language petition, eventually culminating in Māori becoming an official language of New Zealand in 1987. She brought the Pacific community of New Zealand together, fighting for the rights of Māori and Pasifika alike.
Miriama McDowell is a New Zealand actor, director and playwright. She is a graduate of Toi Whakaari.
Ariana Rahera Tikao is a New Zealand singer, musician and author. Her works explore her identity as a Kāi Tahu woman and her music often utilises taonga pūoro. Notably, she co-composed the first concerto for taonga pūoro in 2015. She has released three solo albums and collaborated with a number of other musicians. She was a recipient of an Arts Foundation Laureate Award in 2020.
Paula Whetu Jones is a New Zealand film director and writer. She is best known for her 2003 documentary Gang Girls, the 2020 comedy series I Date Rejects, and the 2022 feature film Whina, a biopic on the life of Dame Whina Cooper.
