MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA ¨C As commemorations kicked off to mark the landing of the British explorer James Cook 250 years ago, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Saturday called for her country to have a more open conversation about its history.
Britain delivered a ¡°statement of regret¡± to indigenous Maori earlier this week for the killing of nine of their number immediately after Cook¡¯s landing, although it did not offer a formal apology.
Descendants of some of those killed were in attendance at Saturday¡¯s events, beginning with the arrival of dignitaries and ships from around the Pacific.
¡°We have to now make sure ... that we have this conversation, that we talk about our history much more openly,¡± Ardern said during live coverage of the events by broadcaster TVNZ1.
¡°We were only really telling, I believe, 50 percent of the story, and not always telling it well.¡±
New Zealand should continue to learn and tell the full story of its past, she added.
¡°I¡¯d ask anyone to imagine what it would be like to hear a story be retold, knowing that, actually, you lost an ancestor directly because of those encounters and not feeling like that¡¯d be adequately told.¡±
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