Saying farewell to the Governor-General
The Beehive has announced the details of the Governor-General's "State Farewell". According to Gavin McLean in his excellent book The Governors, the State Farewell is a quintessentially colonial affair. Given the changes to the office of Governor-General since 1967 - when the first New Zealander was appointed to the office, rather than a member of Britain's aristocracy* - the State Farewell is another colonial hang over waiting to be brought into the 21st century. Just looking at the program, the only acknowledgement that the Governor-General is, in fact, a New Zealander representing New Zealand to the world is a meeting with "leaders of the Indian community" after the State Luncheon.
The rest of the ceremony is the usual parade of a "Royal" guard of honour, presenting colours from the branches of our military and firing cannons from Point Jerningham - all things not out of place in 19th century Britain. Not that Anand Satyanand doesn't deserve it. Despite one Royalist querying whether or not he was "even a New Zealander", His Excellency has furthered New Zealand's sense of national identity, despite the colonial confines of the office. Anand has begun a tradition of a New Year's Message and Matariki message; he always opens his speeches by greeting those present in the languages of the Realm of New Zealand, much to the annoyance of some monarchists.
So how could we celebrate the ending of an elected, independent head of state's tenure in office?
*Although, to be fair war hero General Freyberg was almost a New Zealander - he moved to New Zealand when he was two.
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The Beehive link given states that there will be a powhiri at the start of the proceedings. There will be no doubt that it is a ceremony in the commonwealth realm of NZ.
A powhiri! Wow, that makes this colonial event uniquely New Zealand then...
Given he is New Zealand's Governor-General I can't see the point of
firing off the guns. The whole idea of a 21 gun salute has lost all
meaning. It was originally a signal of peaceful intentions toward
another nation (signifying that all the guns are empty) but it just gets
trotted out without much thought to what it is for and what it means
(other than being a lot of loud noise). They drive the soldiers down
from Linton for it each time they do it so its just a waste of time and
money.
It is another advantage of becoming a republic that we will
have a chance to update the ceremonies and traditions so they actually
resonate and celebrate something. Instead of the dreary old inspecting
of the guard routine and all the other tired old ways in which we signify our relationship as citizens to the state. The special
meeting with Indian News Zealanders is interesting. Do you know if other GG's had
similar meetings with groups they are close to?
Interesting - I thought it was about signalling a ship leaving port.
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