The development of mutual trust and respect between Maori and the first European arrivals which took place during the Endeavour’s 12-day sojourn at Te Whanganui o Hei (Mercury Bay) in November 1769, was one of the key events forming the symbolic 'base alloy' on which our now, multi-cultural nation has been forged.
However, while this remains a keystone event in our history, it is the memory of Kupe – the first to arrive here around 960AD according to Maori tradition and those Polynesians who settled in Aotearoa about 300 years later, following the ‘Great Migration’ - which take precedence. History records that they were the ones who…