It gives me great pleasure to be here today in Marlborough on the occasion of the presentation of a steering oar on behalf of Marlborough New Zealand and its Mayor Alistair Sowman, Mr Rob Taylor told the 50 guests present.
Through you Your Worship can I personally convey Alistair’s best wishes and those of the people of Marlborough and New Zealand in general.
The background to the oar is I think well documented.
It was a great honour for New Zealand to be represented in the Thames River pageant celebrating the Queens Diamond Jubilee.
I was one of two million people who came together on that wonderful day to witness the 1,000 vessels of historical significance who had come from Commonwealth countries from around the world to participate in the pageant.
These were boats of all shapes and sizes with one of the smallest being the Swift-Sure, a small replica whaling skiff with its crew of six schoolboys from Marlborough college in Blenheim.
The boat itself had been built by Ron Perano in recognition of his family’s history of whaling in the Marlborough sounds.
Ron who participated in the pageant as the helmsman, along with the boys involved had raised over NZD 100,000 for the trip. The boat itself took around eight weeks to reach London on a container ship.
As someone who a number of years ago had spent years as a rower I was in deep admiration for the effort these boys had made. Rowing for four hours and toward the end against the tide and in the atrocious weather was a considerable feet of endurance.
I’m sure they will always remember that day and one which has its own enduring legacy which we now celebrate.
There is a saying we often used in New Zealand which is “Finding yourself up a creek without a paddle”. I’m pleased to say that that is certainly not the case today.
In my role I get to undertake a range of activities but few give me greater pleasure than those that form lasting links between New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
Of course it is these links that have formed the foundation of a lasting relationship that has endured for over 150 years and can be found in the social, economic and political fabric of everything that joins us together. Where it matters however, most in my view, is in one particular area:
He aha temeanui?
He tangata.
He tangata.
He tangata.
What is the most important thing? It is people, it is people, it is people.
It is fitting therefore that through the presentation of the oar we are able to continue that hugely important link between our two countries.
It is also symbolic that today’s event reties what was a hugely important trading link for New Zealand with, as it was referred to some one hundred years ago – Mother Britain.
The oar is a replica of the great oars used in the boats which chased and caught whales off the New Zealand coast. Our whaling industry provided the oil which lit the street lamps of Britain and lubricated the machinery used in the industrial revolution.
So this oar has a significant story to tell both in terms of our early development but the beginning of a trading relationship with the United Kingdom which is today worth billions.
For those of you not familiar with Marlborough New Zealand it is a region of contrast. Your beauty is your great monuments, buildings and market villages, our Marlborough is known for its snow-capped mountains, beech forests, alpine lakes, fiords, sandy beaches and a fine Mediterranean climate.
Once a region that produced some of New Zealand’s finest lamb and wool in the world, today of course it is better known for being the home of our world famous Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.
The name Marlborough, as we all know, is associated with one of the world’s finest generals.
Our Marlborough and its neighbouring regions have produced some of New Zealand’s finest and most outstanding citizens.
Included are people such as Sir Alister McIntosh our first foreign secretary, Noble prize winning physicist Sir Ernest Rutherford who split the atom, and Sir William Pickering space scientist and former director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Then there were the great cricketers, the Cairns brothers and All Black Captain Anton Oliver.
And perhaps the person deserving of the greatest recognition in the context of this country, Major General Sir Edward Chaytor, who led the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the First World War to places such as Gallipoli and in the Sinai leading the Desert Column.
Chaytor was the first and only New Zealander to ever exercise command of a full division within the British Armed Forces.
Your worship, our two Marlboroughs might be separated by great distance and time, but today’s event will I’m sure transcend that distance and grow the bonds of friendship and community that has linked New Zealand and the United Kingdom for many years.
It’s an absolute pleasure to be here today. May I wish you well and hope that in the not too distant future a similar event can be celebrated in Marlborough New Zealand.
Marlborough’s link to Marlborough, New Zealand sealed with a Jubilee oar
