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Parihaka anniversary at World Peace Bell, Christchurch Botanic Gardens
It was a beautiful and peaceful day in Christchurch on Wednesday 5 November - not appropriate for Guy Fawkes Day, but very appropriate for one of the many events for peace and reconciliation that were taking place all over the country. It was the 144th anniversary of the invasion of Parihaka and it was held at the World Peace Bell in the famous Christchurch Botanic Gardens.
Many people stood in a large circle around the Peace Bell. The Service was run by Helen Mann, 50 Boys from the Christ College Choir sang waiata, and many onlookers including a good number of Quakers. A short and very moving play depicted the shocking invasion of the pacifist village of Parihaka on 5 November 1881, when 1600 government troops descended on the Taranaki settlement. The community, led by Te Whiti-o-Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi, had resisted the confiscation of land through their philosophy of non-violent resistance, but the troops destroyed the village, and arrested many of the thousands of villagers.
The Parihaka invasion was one of the darkest moments in New Zealand’s history, and it would be 136 years before the Crown officially apologised for the atrocities committed – in 2017 by Jacinda Ardern.
Archibald Baxter would have loved to have been at the ceremony. He was born 38 days after the invasion of Parihaka – on 13 December 1881.
