Thought For The Week 8 February 2026

Thought For The Week:  –  Te Tiriti o Waitangi no Māngere Maunga

On Auckland Anniversary Day just past, I went for a walk from where I was staying to the top of Māngere Maunga. I sat for about two hours on the highest point to chill out, think about some things and pray. The pre-colonial history of Māngere Mountain and the area around it is worth researching. It has been a rich and bountiful place since being first settled by Māori as early as the 1200s.

From the time of European arrival its history has a similar script to many places in Auckland and the Waikato. Despite the Treaty of Waitangi, Māori land was invaded, war was raged and great tracts of land were taken or confiscated by the colonial government of the time.

Following the Waikato Wars the mountain and surrounding fertile land was confiscated because its strategic location with its Pa was seen as a threat. The land became settler farms and the mountain itself was made into a public reserve. Through a treaty settlement in 2014, Māngere Maunga is owned by the Crown and administered through the Tūpuna Maunga o Tāmaki Makaurau Authority. The public have access.

Sitting at the summit presents a stunning scene. As far as you can see, you see city in   every direction with the interludes of harbours and waterways.

Then there is the portent of the present debates over the relevancy and meaning of the Treaty in 2026. In the scene I set before you is the Maunga itself, a centre for a living culture going back at least 45 generations. Then literally butted up against the base of the mountain where the extensive kumara gardens were for centuries, the modern houses of Māngere. Roll a rock down and it would go through a back fence. I looked at the scene for a long time with this taunga of a place. Today 186 years after Te Tiriti o Waitangi was first signed, the city, a rock roll away, whose founding and expansion largely, if not completely, ignored the Treaty.

Sitting on the highest point of Māngere Mountain the Moderator of the PCANZ remembered in brief what the Church has said and enacted in response the Treaty ofWaitangi. PCANZ interprets the Treaty not just as a legal document, but as a "covenant" or  sacred promise between the Crown and Māori. We formally recognise a bicultural partnership between Te Aka Puahou and the members of the church and its courts. The Presbyterian Church actively observes Waitangi Day, with representatives participating in events at Waitangi. As an ongoing response to the Treaty, anti-racism and equal justice for all has become a mark of our Christian witness. Praying for a present and future where Tangata Whenua and Tangata Tiriti live together in peace and mutual respect.

As a PCANZ member, be praying and be vigilant that we will never be seduced by the words of an ideology that does not come from the teaching of Jesus and the Spirit hebestows on us all. Pray earnestly that as a Church we will not participate in the use of wrong power against anyone, through the right understanding of justice in action through word and deed.

And the last word; the covenant aspect of Tiriti o Waitangi will only be fulfilled with the spiritual transformation of New Zealand. Pray for the Good News of the Gospel to change hearts and minds of every New Zealander.

Nā, tēnei te mau nei te whakapono, te tūmanako, te aroha, ēnei e toru; ko te mea nui rawa ia o ēnei ko te aroha.

Peter

Right Rev Peter Dunn

Moderator Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand  moderator@presbyterian.org.nz