In October 1769, as the British explorer James Cook first floated into Tūranganui River in New Zealand, the astonished local Māori sent armed men to meet the boat in what was probably a ceremonial challenge. Thinking they were under attack, Cook’s crew opened fire. Nine Māori were killed in consequent clashes, setting the stage for a later European colonisation that devastated indigenous populations’ culture, language and land.
Two-hundred and fifty years later, in 2019, Laura Clarke, the British ambassador to New Zealand at the time, was tasked with commemorating the event. One of the youngest ambassadors the country has had, Clarke insisted that her team focus on acknowledging past wrongs and issued an official expression of regret for the killings. “I used to talk about it as ‘seeing the view from the beach’,” Clarke, 44, said when we met earlier this year. “What was it like being Māori on the beach and seeing the ship arrive, as opposed to the view from the ship?”
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