Te Mahere Aranga Tuatoru: A 30 Year Overall Plan for Parihaka

Parihaka is a small village at the foot of Mount Taranaki. This peaceful and unassuming community is internationally significant for the creation of the passive resistance movement that influenced great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Gifts from the Gandhi family to Parihaka in recognition of the significant contribution this community has made to the international peaceful resistant movement can still be seen in their wharenui today.

However, this incredible community and their kaupapa of peace is not widely known to most New Zealanders. Omitted from New Zealand education, the story of Parihaka was generally missing from New Zealand history books up until 1975.

In November 1881, Parihaka was invaded without provocation and the village ransacked, their leadership and most of its male population arrested without charge and incarcerated to undermine its kaupapa of peaceful resistance.

140 years on the Parihaka community has had an apology from the Government for its actions in 1881 in the form of a Deed of Reconciliation and has been working on rebuilding their autonomy, resilience and self-sufficiency. In 2019, the community started working with Craig Pocock to develop a community engagement process that led to the development of its 30-year community plan. The Parihaka principles, narrative and the legacy of Tohu Kākahi and Te Whiti-o-Rongomai have created the framework for community healing and reconciliation with the past. This journey and future vision is captured in Te Mahere Aranga Tuatoru, A 30 Year Spatial Plan for Parihaka.