Source: Radio New Zealand
The conversation will be re-enacted at the original location, near Kemp House at Kerikeri Basin. Peter de Graaf
A conversation between British missionaries and Ngāpuhi rangatira – including the famous chief Hongi Hika – will be re-enacted on Saturday, exactly 200 years after it took place.
Author Grant Hodgson said the conversation on 15 November, 1825, was remarkable in that it was translated by the young William Gilbert Puckey, who was fluent in te reo, and recorded by fellow missionary Richard Davis.
Hodgson said the conversation offered rare, vivid insights into the thoughts and values of both parties.
Actors from Kerikeri Theatre Company would re-enact the discussion with local hapū Ngāti Rēhia.
The “very interesting conversation”, as Missionary Henry Williams described it at the time, would take place at 10.15am on Saturday at the original location, near Kemp House at Kerikeri Basin.
The conversation formed the basis of a book written by Hodgson, with the help of Ngāti Rēhia’s Kipa Munro, called Rangatiratanga and Gentlemanship.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
