Protesting statues and monuments misguided

We certainly live in controversial times. We seemingly survived the Covid-19 pandemic despite the lockdown in New Zealand providing a field day for conspiracies –anything from ant-vaxers to Bill Gates’ theories. Misguided vandals attacked 5G mobile towers, even though 5G is not in use in NZ. They then complained because their mobile phones wouldn’t work.

Then, following the US police murder of a black man George Floyd, anti-racism protests burst apart worldwide. This regrettably spilled to wrecking memorials to historic slave traders and other perceived undesirables.  In New Zealand Captain James Cook entered the firing line resulting in changing the name of a Dunedin Hotel.

The statue of Royal Naval Captain Hamilton was removed from the city that bears his name. Stupidity off the leash knowns no bounds.

Recalling our Colonial past has become unfashionable. I readily agree protests are occasionally necessary for change but not when they go overboard and become irrelevant.

Luckily our Christchurch City Council has elected to leave statues in place. This makes sense especially following the city being wrecked in recent years by a natural disaster. We are struggling to rebuild our city so why tear things down to appease rowdy misguided protesters?

Not everything in history was pleasant but we need to learn from history if we wish to avoid repeating what we consider were mistakes.

Seems we are dealing with people with little, or no, knowledge of the past or why things happened as they did.

I was amused when a historian pointed out that the Bully Hayes restaurant and bar in the Banks Peninsula town, Akaroa, was named after a notorious Pacific slave trader. Hayes was certainly not an agreeable sea captain. He kidnapped islanders and sold them to plantation owners.

The ``Bully’’ referred to how Hayes treated his own seafarers. He got his comeuppance in 1877 when he overstepped the mark and was murdered by his ship’s chef. His body was tossed overboard and the chef was declared a hero.

Captain Cook, I understand is not a favourite of some Maori people. He did skittle a few when he arrived in Gisborne in 1769 but he was respected for his actions. Maori, themselves, were notoriously violent. Te Rauparaha, leader of Ngati Toa, led bloodied battles against other tribes as well as European settlers.

Cook did consult Maori and visa versa. That’s how Cook learned that the inner leaves of ti kouka could be eaten. The leaves provided vitamin C, necessary for preventing the dreaded seafarers’ scurvy.  Hence the prolific native plant became the ``Cabbage Tree.’’

Ti Kouku, Cook's Cabbage tree 

The first European to discover New Zealand was Dutch man Abel Tasman in 1642. In a skirmish with local Maori, he lost four men. Tasman is best remembered by New Zealand’s most popular National Park in the northern South Island.

Tasman and Golden Bays Abel Tasman territory

I know much about the colonial past of Christchurch, having been a tour guide on Chch Tramway. John Robert Godly is claimed to be the founder of Canterbury. He did not get on with the Scottish Deans Brothers who were likely the first people here. But he had other interesting attributes.

John Robert Godley

 We have Robert Falcon Scott, hero of Antarctica and William Rolleston, the gentlemanly Superintendent of Canterbury during provincial government times. In another place is Queen Victoria. There are others.

Just yesterday I took an image of the quirky ``Doughnut’’ monument in the rural town, Springfield. It was presented by the makers of the television show ``Simpsons’’ wanting to establish ties with Springfields worldwide. Locals, kids in particular, loved their ``Doughnut.” Protesters (most did not live in Springfield) curiously objected to it and when authorities refused to remove it, they set fire to it.  A replacement was made at great cost because that’s what the town wanted.

We have even had an insane suggestion to take down the Gore trout monument because it might offend vegans. Someone else wants the town of Cromwell name changed because Cromwell was not an agreeable lender in seventeenth-century Britain. Where does the madness end?

Looking globally, no group has yet suggested demolishing the preserved Colosseum ruins built in central Rome built between 70 and 80 AD. Yet this amphitheatre is infamous for its Christian martyrs. Many were fed to lions. 

Springfield ``Doughnut''