About 300 people attended the Ngai Tahu Treaty Festival at Te Rau Aroha marae in Bluff on Waitangi Day.
Hosted by Te Runanga o Awarua, yesterday's festival commemorated the 178th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and began with a powhiri and a formal welcome.
Among the dignitaries, the Governor-General was represented by Lieutenant-commander Nigel Finnerty, the resident naval officer for Southland from the Royal New Zealand Naval Reserve.
After the welcome, the film Ata Whenua Revealed 2018, which showcases the Fiordland wilderness, was shown in the Bluff Hall.
The Ngai Tahu archive team presented Ka Huru Manu (the Ngai Tahu Cultural Mapping Project) and the book Tangata Ngai Tahu: People of Ngai Tahu.
Bluff is the closest town to Ruapuke Island (20km), which was one of three Te Wai Pounamu (South Island) locations where Maori signed the treaty in 1840. Each year commemorations rotate between the three places where Ngai Tahu signed the Treaty, which also include Otakou marae on Otago Peninsula and Onuku marae on Banks Peninsula.
-By Janette Gellatly
