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Naval VisitPosted September 2009 Exhibit celebrates naval connection
CEO Jeanette Richardson with Chief of Navy Rear Admiral Tony Parr
Naval exhibit offers insightThe role of the Royal New Zealand Navy at Waitangi is being heralded at the Treaty Grounds throughout September. A new exhibition at the Treaty House illustrates the long history of the Navy at Waitangi. The recently-appointed Chief of Navy, Rear Admiral Tony Parr (pictured) opened the exhibit and toured the grounds.
After a powhiri in the Whare Runanga, CEO Jeanette Richardson recalled some of the significant historical occasions shared with the Navy at Waitangi, and specifically three “great Waitangi Days”. The first was in 1890 when, after the first national observance of the day at Waitangi, the band of HMS Opal played at a Grand Ball in Russell.
In 1940, the Whare Runanga was opened with a moving ceremony by the Navy before a crowd of 12,000. “The commemorations were subdued due to the war,” says Jeanette Richardson, “and it was at that occasion that the Maori Battalion paraded at Waitangi.”
The third occasion singled out was the 150th anniversary in 1990 of the signing of the Treaty, attended by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. The recent visit and new exhibit was commemorated by the planting of a native tree by Rear Admiral Parr.
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