Special events in Nelson mark 370 years of shared history

10 June 2012

Special events in Nelson mark 370 years of shared history

Three very special events are taking place in Nelson over 14/17 June. They are part of marking 2012 as the 370th anniversary of Abel Tasman’s 1642 voyage of discovery. Not only did that voyage put New Zealand on the map, but it was the first meeting of two worlds, Maori and European.

Netherlands’ Ambassador, Mr Arie van der Wiel, is hosting a seminar of ten invited scholars and is confident the discussion will shed new light on interpreting the accounts and images from Tasman’s voyage. The seminar will particularly focus on the dramatic events that unfolded in what is now Golden Bay.

“I’m delighted that we have been able to attract outstanding experts from around New Zealand and the Netherlands,” he said. “And to hold the lively discussion here in Nelson is also very appropriate. After all it’s the region where New Zealand’s shared Maori-European history began.” He added that it was nearly 130 years until the next voyager, the Englishman James Cook, came looking.

The Ambassador will also open a new display at Nelson Provincial Museum. It brings together various images, charts and words connected with the continuing story based on Tasman’s own account. One of the special exhibits is a 1726 Dutch engraving that local people donated to the Museum in March after fundraising to buy it at auction. It shows two local images from the voyage, in Golden Bay and the Rangitoto/d’Urville Island anchorage. The display will be open to the public from 15 June.

The final highlight is the afternoon concert on Sunday 17 June at the Nelson School of Music, the main public event of the year. Local performers will present a Lilburn piano sonata and the well-known Lilburn/Curnow “Landfall in Unknown Seas”, written for string orchestra and narrator. To this will be added kapa haka and musical performance by the Koata Whanau.

Organising committee representative Penny Griffith says the concert is a special one-off occasion. “It’s taken several months planning to get to this point, and the programme is a very fitting way to round off this important weekend,” she said.

Ms Griffith added that this is the biggest Tasman commemoration since 1992, when Queen Beatrix visited the region, and that it is pleasing to see increasing awareness of the 1642 events and Tasman’s role as a navigator.

For more information visit www.abeltasman370.com

ENDS

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