Waitangi Day through the lens of a Māori warden - 'I'm a part of history changing'

The first time Matarora Smith worked Waitangi Day commemorations in Paihia, she felt the wairua and whakapapa of the historic place.

Driving the windy roads up from Auckland, the excitement, nervousness, and anticipation somehow made her feel all the more ready for the job ahead.

"You just had to be there," she says.

"Those were the days of being front line. There were protesters and you just knew that Waitangi was a time where people came to air their grievances."

It was 2012 and Smith had only been a Māori warden for five years. She was a complete novice compared to some of her other colleagues, who had been in the game for 20 years or more.

John Key was prime minister, leading the fifth National government with a confidence and supply agreement with ACT, United Future and the Māori Party.

And whilst tensions between Māori and the Crown had calmed down relative to previous years, there was no shortage of protesters this Waitangi Day, Smith remembers.

According to the news reports at the time, John Key's speech during the formal government pōwhiri at Te Tii Marae was cut short after a stand-off with protesters, who drowned him out with megaphones yelling "we don't want to listen to you" and "go home National".

"You always prepared yourself because you didn't know what was going to go on," Smith says.

That day, like many Waitangi Days before and many after, Māori wardens were the peacekeepers, keeping everyone involved safe and calm.

Easily recognised by their black formal dress uniforms, badge and hat, they strive to be a friendly face in a crowd. Sometimes their work is as practical as directing traffic or parking cars at large hui or tangihanga, other times they navigate tricky conversations, lending a sympathetic - but reasonable - ear.

Established in 1860 and officially recognised in law by 1945, Māori wardens play a key role in supporting communities across the motu.

The relationships they foster in their rohe enables them to anticipate the needs of their communities. Most wardens are just everyday people called to the role by wanting to serve te iwi Māori. For many, being a warden is in their whakapapa, with whānau serving before them.

But Matarora Smith was not one of those. Growing up, she never imagined herself in the role she has today - the chief executive of Tāmaki ki te Tonga District Māori Wardens.

Instead, she was involved in peacekeeping of a different kind - caring for her 13 siblings - and felt her calling was to be a mother.

"I got married, had children. At that time, hubby went to work and you stayed at home, looked after the kids and looked after the house."

So when her daughter and grandchildren moved over to Australia, she followed them across the ditch.

Settling in Sydney, Smith worked for an organisation supporting the homeless population, where she saw many similarities between the problems aboriginal peoples were facing and Māori back home.

"All of a sudden a light bulb went on. My grandchildren moved back here [to New Zealand] and I thought, 'it's only me here, that's it, I'm going home'. And when I came back, I wanted to do the same work."

Upon her return a friend suggested she help on an initiative called 'Project Walkthrough' in Manukau. Funded by the NZ Police in collaboration with Māori Wardens, their aim was to reduce alcohol consumption in public, and ensure that restaurants and bars were taking care of patrons, offering food, and not selling them more booze when they were already intoxicated.

Smith jumped at the opportunity, excited to play a role in supporting people in need. The only catch: you had to be a registered Māori warden and Smith was not.

'I thought, 'what's a Māori warden?"

But despite no prior knowledge of Māori wardens or what they did, she signed up.

Since her first day all the years ago, she has worked hard starting on the front lines and rising the ranks to manage a team of wardens in her role as Chief Executive of her district.

All wardens are volunteers and there are 10 Māori sub-associations in the Tāmaki ki the Tonga District Smith works with, which runs from Howick to Māngere and Pukekohe in the south.

Her office and home in Tāmaki Makaurau is at the end of a long driveway. A metal gate opens onto a well manicured lawn where we are greeted by a loudly barking golden labrador, who turns out to be a big softie.

Smith is not wearing her warden uniform but is dressed instead in a black polo shirt and skirt. A pounamu, carved in the shape of a heart, smooth and shiny, hangs around her neck.

The house she lives in is huge. With seven bedrooms, it would be easy to get lonely. But she is too busy for that. Instead she fills her home with people, including her colleagues.

A huge wooden table squats in what was once the lounge, but is now being used as a boardroom. It's where Smith holds training and workshops for the wardens.

It is mid-January and the energy around Waitangi is already building. With the days ticking down, she and her team are fine-tuning plans and bracing for a year that is expected to draw even larger crowds than usual.

Waitangi commemorations in Te Tai Tokerau are supported by wardens from across the motu, with between 60 to 100 wardens from different districts travelling up for the week.

"It's a lot of work. The year before, around about June and July, I'll start working because you've got to start booking your accommodation and you've got to make sure that you've got everybody in the right place."

In previous years they have stayed at a camp, but this year will be a bit different.

"We're all getting a little bit older, nobody wants to share bathrooms, nobody wants to share toilets. So I make sure that now we've all got units, with a group of us in a unit"

The other bit of work that goes in Waitangi is the rostering, and ensuring that the right wardens are placed in the right places.

The older wardens, Smith explains, "they will be up the top at the marae, doing all that lovely stuff that wardens should do. Escorting, talking to people, making those relationships. But the younger people, the ones that are still fit and physical, are out there doing everything that needs to be done to get it going properly, the crowds, the traffic."

Last year an estimated 80,000 people travelled from across the country to Waitangi - four times bigger than previous celebrations. It was in response to the newly formed coalition government's policies, which many in Māoridom and beyond perceived to be an attack on Māori rights and te Tiriti o Waitangi.

The streets of the small tourist town were gridlocked, and car horns were in full blast. Cars were parked in unusual and illegal places just so whānau could attend.

This year is expected to exceed 2024's record attendance. It will also be the first year where there will be Māori wardens working 24/7.

"As Waitangi comes closer we liaise with the local Waitangi board up there, that runs everything, and they've asked to have some security on at night, so they're not moving cones and people aren't driving all over the place.

"We're prepping now for the opening of the marae, We're prepping for the iwi forum up there. And just the build-up to Waitangi. The build-up to Waitangi is the biggest part."

But the long shifts in the hot sun at Waitangi are all worth it, Smith says, to be part of history.

"You witness and are privy to a lot of stuff that people didn't know about and you always feel special because you were part of something. You look around and go, 'did I just see that? Did I just witness that all by myself?'

"I'm a part of history changing. That's how I see it. Everything I do now, I'm part of history changing."

A highlight of her career has been her two of her granddaughters following in her footsteps and becoming registered Māori wardens. During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, when pressures on Māori wardens were at an all time high, they volunteered.

"They were young and wanted to do something, and I thought 'you can come with Nan'. And once they started doing the wardenship and helping out, they loved it.

"They are our future. That's the ongoing of Maori wardens, is our rangatahi, and rangatahi themselves are special, you know? They're our future leaders. Whether they be leaders of the police, or Māori wardens.

"If you teach our people right and you train them right, our Māori wardens are always going to be in the community guiding our people."

In the 12 years since her first work trip to Waitangi, Smith has seen it all, but it's not the controversy or political tension that she remembers the most, it's the people.

"A lot of the kuia and kaumātua who were alive back then, they're not alive now. Like Titewhai Harawira and Kingi Taurua they're not alive now but they were pretty full-on. Hone [Harawira] was in his prime. It was very very interesting. It was great because you got involved in everything that was going on."

Smith has also met her fair share of politicians at Waitangi, but she still admires Dame Jacinda Ardern the most.

"Always Jacinda. She always came to meet with the wardens, she always made time for Māori wardens, she always came and spent time with us, the impact that she made on us was marvellous."

Since Ardern left office in 2023, Smith has not connected with the politicians as much.

"I know our minister of Māori development is there and I know he's there for us, but you've got to have that special relationship but we haven't got it yet."

When it is over, she will breathe a sigh of relief, but for now she has more planning to do and calls to make. The rosters won't write themselves.

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