Waitangi Day
Waitangi Day Commemorations return to Kawatea Okains Bay
Nau mai, haere mai.
Te Rūnaka o Koukourarata and Okains Bay Museum invite you to Waitangi Day Commemorations at Kawatea on Rātū 6 Pēpuere 2024 | Okains Bay, Tuesday 6 February 2024
- 9:00 am: Gates open.
Free entry to the Museum where there will be all day displays, side shows, entertainment, food and family fun. Bring plenty of cash. - 9:45 am: Manuhiri/invited guests gather opposite the Old School on the Ngai Tahu Reserve
- 10:00 am: Pōwhiri begins on Ngāi Tahu Reserve
- 10:45 am: Citizenship ceremony (to be confirmed)
- 1:30 pm: Waka arrives
Okains Bay Museum, in partnership with Te Rūnanga o Koukourarata, will cohost Waitangi Day Commemorations on Tuesday 6 February 2024. Historically, the Okains Bay Waitangi Day commemoration is the longest-running in Te Waipounamu and is an iconic event on the national calendar.
In an important new direction, the day will be run as a free community event which will ensure that cost is not a barrier to whānau participation.
“This is in keeping with the tikanga of the day as set down by our kaumātua/kuia and an acknowledgement of the wider Ngāi Tahu whānui that have been involved with the Waitangi Day commemorations at Okains Bay throughout its forty-seven-year history,” says Te Rūnanga o Koukourarata Chair, Mananui Ramsden.
Christchurch City Council will be supporting the event by sponsoring important infrastructure and services.
Christchurch City Council has had a longstanding relationship with the Okains Bay Museum. The Council is a regular funder of Museum projects through contestable funding and is represented on the Museum Trust Board. Councillors and Community Board members also regularly attend the Waitangi Day commemorations at Okains each year.
“After a two-year COVID-19-enforced hiatus, the return of Waitangi Day Commemorations to Kawatea Okains Bay in 2024 will be more popular than ever,” says Museum Manager, Wendy Riley. “More details will follow as planning progresses.”
Volunteer to help out: