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201 The eleven years which have elapsed since the Hokowhitu a Tu sailed from these shores for Egypt and Gallipoli have given us the length and breadth of vision needful to estimate at its full value not only the service which our Maori people gave to their country and to their allies but also the reflex of that service on the position of the Maori as a social and political entity in the life of New Zealand. —Maui Pomare, in James Cowan, The Maoris in the GreatWar (1926) ANZAC Day is often referred to as NZ’s “coming of age,” well in my mind ANZAC Day 2007 was Maori TV’s coming of age.Well done. Kia Kaha [be strong]. —“John Smith” who self-defines as “born and bred very proud Kiwi, however unfortunately with no Maori blood,”e-mail to Maori Television, 2007 These two quotations, from very different eras in New Zealand’s history and from different ethnic groups, nevertheless resonate with each other in a way that provides a useful starting point for an examination of the role that Maori Television’s annual coverage of Anzac Day plays both in the establishment of Maori Television as an integral part of the New Zealand mediascape and in the ongoing construction of what it means to be a“New Zealander.”This examination is based on an analysis of the Anzac Day coverage in 2007, and of 312 responses that were posted to the channel’s website or emailed to the channel on Anzac Day or immediately following.1 Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance held on April 25 every year in Australia and New Zealand. It marks the anniversary of the ill-fated landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) at Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire on April 25, 1915. The Gallipoli campaign was the first major battle undertaken by the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, and is often considered to mark the birth of national consciousness in both of these countries. When Anzac Day started in 1916, the first anniversary of the Gallipoli Campaign, a half-holiday was gazetted as a day of remembrance to acknowledge the sacrifice of that campaign, and to support grieving families.2 11. Maori Television, Anzac Day, and Constructing “Nationhood” S U E A B E L 202 S U E A B E L Over the years, however, its function has changed. Stephen Clarke, a historian for the Returned Servicemen’s Association, says that Anzac Day today is “first and foremost about a search for identity as New Zealanders.” Official websites set this out clearly: “Anzac Day enjoys unusual reverence in a country where emotional public rituals are otherwise absent. The day still has a traditional commemorative function, but for more people it is also becoming an opportunity to talk about what it may mean to be a New Zealander.”3 And further: Today, at a time when it seems New Zealanders are increasingly keen to assert and celebrate a unique identity, we recognise Anzac Day as a central marker of our nationhood. . . . Anzac Day now promotes a sense of unity, perhaps more effectively than any other day on the national calendar. People whose politics, beliefs and aspirations are widely different can nevertheless share a genuine sorrow at the loss of so many lives in war, and a real respect for those who have endured warfare on behalf of the country we live in.4 Many of the soldiers who fought (and died) at Gallipoli and in other battles in World Wars I and II were Maori. Maori members of Parliament Maui Pomare and Apirana Ngata, from different sides of the House, joined forces during World War I to encourage Maori to join the armed forces. They both believed that by participating strongly in the war and fighting to defend the country, Maori would demonstrate to Pakeha (white New Zealanders)5 that they were full citizens.6 It is very tempting to take the excerpt from Pomare’s preface to James Cowan’s 1926 book The Maoris in the Great War cited above and make a neat correlation between Maori service inWorldWar I as leading to a Maori coming of age in New Zealand society , just as MaoriTelevision’s Anzac Day coverage is seen, like“John Smith” suggests, as the channel’s coming of age. But on closer and critical examination, there are, as always, other stories to be told. Pomare’s statement...

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