Ō Tatou Kaupapa | Origins and Purpose
History—and attempts to tell the truth in general—are increasingly under attack in current national and international political environments.
Political movements like Trumpism and its antipathy towards honesty and evidence, the disinformation rife in the post-Covid internet, and the challenges to the operation of a free press caused by the restructuring of advertising spend and a lack of political will, muddy the historical waters.
This context makes the production of freely-produced and -available resources more important than ever.
Such resources are ideally unaligned with and unbeholden to government funding, because of its precarity. They must encourage critical thought, bring into the light stories which have not been told before, and deepen and broaden our knowledge of our pasts.
This project seeks to serve a variety of audiences in support of several purposes.
Our audience for some content will include ākonga in schools across Aotearoa, their kaiako and whānau, who are exploring the Aotearoa New Zealand Histories Curriculum. The curriculum focus includes global and national perspectives, but has a very strong local emphasis. He Tāonga Tuku Iho aims to support the history curriculum by contributing to its mātauranga Māori foundation, to the local community narratives, and to the national and international story.
Our audience for some content is Anglican leaders, undertaking a Commission of Episcopal Leadership, who need information about models of Anglican leadership over time. Exploring models of episcopal leadership from our past is an important part of exploring the ways in which episcopal leadership can be supported in the present and future.
Our project also seeks to explore and present historical stories which, as a whole, have relevance across our three tikanga.
Not every story will be equally relevant to everyone, but in the project we seek to tell stories from across the province.
We have a strong global (trans-national), regional, national and local story and presence. Our provincial church, connecting Aotearoa New Zealand with Polynesia, allows us to easily draw stories from around the province together, supporting the topics which explore New Zealand’s connections with the wider Pacific from Years 7–10, as well as further connecting parishioners across the province.