Te Manutukutuku

He manu tukutuku te rangi ka uhia he huruhuru te manu ka tau Kites adorn the sky as feathers adorn the birds Professor Sir Hirini Moko Mead in Bob Maysmor, Te Manu Tukutuku (Wellington: Steele Roberts, 2001)

Te Manutukutuku (‘the flying kite’) is the Waitangi Tribunal's official newsletter. In the first edition in 1989, the director, Wira Gardiner, explained that the humble kite was chosen as the name because:

Te Manutukutuku is symbolic of a number of key ideas. In modern times we largely fly kites for entertainment. Politicians also tend to fly ‘kites’ of a different sort – when they want to test public attitudes for an idea they might have. We prefer that Te Manutukutuku represents ‘the messenger’ as a mean of telling people what is happening.

The initial hope for this kite – that it would act as a bridge across cultural gaps to help to reduce anxiety in the community about the Treaty and the work of the Tribunal – still flies with it today.

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