Moutoa Gardens protest

A notice on a kitchen tent at Moutoa Gardens, Wanganui, New Zealand, during occupation by members of Whanganui iwi, 14 March 1995.

In February 1995 Te Runanga Pakaitore began a 79-day occupation of Moutoa Gardens. The occupation was an attempt to restore the mana of the Whanganui people over the site. The gardens had been established on the site of an ancient pa, Pakaitore. This had been a traditional place for trade before European settlement. Te Runanga Pakaitore claimed that it had been set aside from the purchase of Wanganui. The city denied these claims.

Those protesting saw the gardens as the symbol of past grievances. It had become a memorial to kupapa Maori - those perceived to be loyal to the Crown. As well as the statue in memory of those who fell at Moutoa ‘in defence of law and order against fanaticism and barbarism’, a statue dedicated to the Putiki chief Te Rangihiwinui Kepa ('Major Kemp') celebrated his successes against Te Kooti, the ‘murderer of women and children’.

This dispute highlighted the way in which historic issues dating back to the initial European settlement of the area remained unresolved. These issues have come to the fore again in recent debates over whether the city of Wanganui should be renamed Whanganui. Early translators missed the silent ‘h’ in the local Maori dialect and spelt the town - and the river - Wanganui. In 1991 the New Zealand Geographic Board responded to calls from some local Maori by officially changing the name of the river to Whanganui. In 2009 public consultation began to consider whether or not this name change should be extended to the town itself. Opponents, including the Mayor, Michael Laws, argue that in the intervening years Wanganui and its people have created ‘its own identity, its own history, its own pride, its own mana’.