Protecting our taonga

Header Image: Inside Te Kōngahu Museum, showing significant claims, such as the 1985 Te Reo Māori claim, one of the earliest Waitangi Tribunal Claims

The historic 1985 Te Reo Māori claim, one of the earliest Waitangi Tribunal claims, asserted that te reo Māori was a taonga (treasure) the Crown should protect under Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The claim upheld that Māori be promoted as a ‘living language’ and ‘an ordinary means of communication’.

The Māori Language Act established the Māori Language Commission (renamed Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori in 1991) to promote te reo Māori, which been suppressed for decades and was struggling to survive. It was the predominant language spoken in Aotearoa until the mid -19th century, but by the mid -20th century was increasingly only heard in Māori communities.

The Second World War brought huge changes for Māori society. Plenty of work in towns and cities saw Māori move into urban areas in greater numbers. English was the language of urban New Zealand – at work, in school and in recreational activities and the number of Māori speakers decreased rapidly.

The 1970’s saw increased efforts to revitalise the language. In 1972 the influential group, Ngā Tamatoa, collected over 30,000 signatures calling for Māori to be offered in schools.This petition was delivered to Parliament on 14 September 1972. A Māori Language Day introduced that year became Māori Language Week in 1975. This year Te Wiki o te Reo Māori runs from 13 -19 September, with nationwide events happening.

Read more about the historic Te Reo Māori Waitangi Tribunal claim