After a back-pedalled decision following protests from mana whenua, a commitment to "anti-racism" and consultation with the community, Tairawhiti councillors will again decide on the future of two controversial Endeavour models.
Gisborne District Council staff have recommended one Endeavour model be installed in Uawa/Tolaga Bay, and a local museum for the other model. Photo: Supplied / LDR
A paper will come before Gisborne District councillors today, making recommendations for the model HM Bark Endeavours which were built to replace old wooden ones that stood on the city skyline.
Council staff have recommended one model be installed in Uawa/Tolaga Bay, and that the other makes its home in the Tairawhiti Museum or the East Coast Museum of Technology.
If neither museum can exhibit the model, staff recommend it be gifted back to the community group that fundraised for it.
This follows a consultation period in July and August, in which the council received more than 1000 submissions, including one from Tolaga Bay Area School principal Nori Parata, who offered a place for one of the models in Uawa.
Parata said that in spring 1769, their leaders chose to manaaki Captain James Cook, his men, Tupaia and the Endeavour, and in 2019, they chose to do the same for the Tuia 250 flotilla, including the Endeavour replica.
First encounters up the Coast were starkly different from Turanga/Gisborne, where, a submission from Poroporo trustee Te Aorangi Harrington said his tupuna were "murdered" by Cook and his crew when they first arrived.
This sentiment was expressed when four major iwi of Turanganui a Kiwa refused to hold a pōwhiri for the Endeavour replica and Tuia 250 flotilla last year.
The Endeavour models have stood on poles overlooking the city since they were commissioned by the Cook Bicentenary Committee in 1969. Photo: Supplied / LDR
Council staff have provided six options for the Endeavour models, which include gifting one or both models to the community group which fundraised for their construction, or another community group, facility or organisation that operates for public benefit; erecting both models at the original sites on Gladstone Road in the city; or putting up one model in the city, and one on or near the inner harbour waterfront.
Other options include erecting one or both models in Uawa/Tolaga Bay, or pursuing permanent or temporary installation in an appropriate space such as the city's museums.
The staff report says there were "conflicting perspectives" in which a "large proportion" of the community, about 400 submitters, called for the models to be installed at the original locations.
"On the other hand, mana whenua for these sites have indicated they do not want them erected within their rohe," the report says, outlining the responses from four Turanga iwi opposed to the re-erection.
About 700 submitters supported the models being re-erected, 230 were against, and 270 were "impartial".
The staff report said Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti, whose rohe extends from Tokomaru Bay to Gisborne, were willing to have a model installed at the central hub of their rohe in Uawa/Tolaga Bay.
The first Endeavour models were commissioned by the Cook Bicentenary Committee in 1969 and not expected to last more than a year, but were rebuilt and refurbished several times over the next 40 years.
They were removed in 2016 as they had deteriorated to the point of becoming a health and safety risk, and two years later the council put $19,000 towards new models.
The community also raised $20,000, and the project was overseen by a group concerned with ensuring they were replaced.
A crowd gathered outside the Gisborne District Council building in June to protest the reinstatement of the models. Photo: Paul Rickard / Gisborne Herald / LDR
The council voted in favour of reinstalling the models at the existing locations in May, but after much criticism, including a protest outside the council buildings, the decision was revoked.
This was followed up with a formal commitment by councillors to an "anti-racism journey", which would include investigating the models' historical and contextual understanding, with research into the council's policies and practices from the past and present.
Councillors will make a decision on the Endeavours at their Operations Committee meeting today.
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