Hawaiian voyagers welcomed back 40 years after historic visit to Waitangi

This story was first published on 14 November 2025

A Hawaiian voyaging canoe has been welcomed back to Waitangi 40 years after it its first visit sparked the revival of ancient ocean navigation traditions in Aotearoa.

The Hōkūle’a and its sister vessel Hikianalia arrived to a colourful and sometimes emotional ceremony that fused age-old Māori and Hawaiian rituals.

Many of the more than 80 Hawaiians at Waitangi taking part in the celebrations are students from Kamehameha Schools.

The schools’ cultural director, Randie Fong, said the Hōkūle’a’s 1985 visit created lasting connections and strengthened cultures in both nations.

Its return was cause for great excitement — not least because it was during the first visit that the late Sir James Henare, a revered Northland kaumatua [elder], declared Hawaiians the sixth tribe of Tai Tokerau [Northland].

The Hōkūle’a’s first arrival also inspired Sir James to call on Māori to build their own ocean-going canoes and make the return journey to Hawaii.

“It’s hard to imagine the excitement that we feel. This day has been 40 years in the making,” Fong said.

“It’s not lost on us how significant this day is for Hawaii and also for Aotearoa. We always call out the significant things of this moment, which are the birth of a Hawaiian tribe, thanks to Sir James Henare, and his vision for Māori to be able to build their own waka and sail across Te Moananui-ā-Kiwa [the Pacific Ocean], inspired by the Hōkūle’a.”

Fong said the Hawaiian delegation was largely made up of young people because they would be the ones carrying on the traditions for the next 40 years.

The effects of ocean voyaging were profound, he said.

“Our people have become stronger and feel a deep sense of empowerment, both in Hawaii and here in Aotearoa.”

The two wa’a (Hawaiian for waka) arrived at Waitangi around 2pm on 14 November after a short trip across the Bay of Islands from Ōpua, where the crews had been resting under kapu [tapu] after arriving almost a week ahead of schedule.

Originally the sailors were to have been brought ashore by the great waka taua [ceremonial canoe] Ngātokimatawhaorua, but strong winds in Tii Bay meant the crew could not be transferred safely between canoes.

Instead, Ngātokimatawhaorua’s 80 kaihoe [paddlers] escorted the two waka to their anchorage, then performed a salute to the seafarers and a crowd of several hundred spectators gathered on shore.

A more modern vessel then ferried the sailors to shore, where each was draped in a kihei [ceremonial robe] and the Hawaiians performed a series of chants and ceremonial dances.

The pōwhiri, or welcoming ceremony, at nearby Te Tii Marae was a colourful and seamless blend of Ngāpuhi protocol and Hawaiian ritual, which included hula dance and an ‘awa [kava] ceremony.

Nainoa Thompson, head of the Polynesian Voyaging Society and leader of the 1985 expedition, gave an emotional speech recalling the life-changing voyage and his past teachers.

In particular, he paid tribute to Northland’s Sir Hekenukumai Busby.

Thompson said the 16-day journey from Rarotonga to Aotearoa was not only the least known and most dangerous leg of the voyage, it was also the first time he had had to navigate on his own.

Thompson recalled his fear and wanting to cancel the voyage after a cyclone blew through the South Pacific, until Sir Hekenukumai told him in no uncertain terms to trust his ancestors.

Later Thompson said he felt honoured to be treated not as a guest but as family, and how remarkable it was that Sir James’ commitment to the sixth tribe still held firm 40 years later.

Thompson said that also brought responsibilities, and he was looking forward to discussions in coming days about how Ngāti Ruawāhia, the name Sir James bestowed on the Hawaiians, fitted into the fabric of Māori society.

The anniversary and return visit brought back “pretty intense memories”, especially of Sir Hekenukumai, a mentor he regarded as a father.

Asked if he was proud of his part in reviving ocean voyaging, Thompson said he was “extraordinarily grateful” to his teachers and to Māori efforts to keep the tradition alive.

“When you see Aotearoa take leadership in waka, in waka education, the number of canoes they’ve launched, it’s inspiring. I’m very grateful to Māori, for not just keeping it alive, but strengthening it and advancing it.”

Among those on board the Hōkūle’a was Northlander Stan Conrad, the only Māori on board during the 1985 voyage from Rarotonga to Waitangi.

At the time he was 22 years old, making him also the youngest member of the crew.

While sailing from Ōpua to Waitangi, Conrad paid his respects to his crew mates from 40 years ago who were no longer alive.

“It brought back a lot of memories. I sat there and talked with some of the young crew members who weren’t even born when I sailed, so that was pretty special,” he said.

The 1985 journey had been life-changing, and taught him to be proud of who he was and where he came from.

Conrad, who had since become a master navigator, said ocean voyaging had helped dispel myths about Māori.

“When I was brought up in school I was taught about my ancestors being accident sailors, people of the wind, people of the storm, who didn’t know what they were doing.”

In particular he had been haunted by a 19th century painting by the artist CF Goldie, showing starving Māori arriving in New Zealand on a battered waka.

“I knew my ancestors were never like that,” he said.

The retracing of ancestral sailing routes during the past 40 years had put those myths to rest and corrected history, Conrad said.

Lehua Kamalu, who captained the Hōkūle’a from Rarotonga to Waitangi, said she was very familiar with the tropical oceans around her home in Hawaii.

“So this trip was a huge challenge. This is very far south so the air is colder, the wind is different, the way the weather moves is very different. We didn’t have a lot of moon or sun for many, many days, and we certainly had a lot of different wind conditions. It went all the way around the compass multiple times,” she said.

However, despite the navigation challenges, the sea itself was calm and the trip was unusually comfortable.

Kamalu said it was “quite an honour” to be give the responsibility of captaining the Hōkūle’a on only its second trip from Rarotonga to Aotearoa.

At dawn on 15 November a new carving was unveiled on the grounds of Te Tii Marae in honour of Ngāti Ruawāhia.

Later in the morning a 40th anniversary tribute ceremony honoured Sir James, Sir Hekenukumai, and Myron “Pinky” Thompson, a long-time president of the Polynesian Voyaging Society and father of Nainoa Thompson.

The two waka departed Waitangi on 16 November, calling into Mangahawea Bay on Moturua Island on their way to Auckland.

Both traditional knowledge and archaeological evidence point to Mangahawea as one of the earliest sites of Polynesian settlement in New Zealand.

The canoes will remain in Aotearoa for about six months for maintenance and to wait out the South Pacific cyclone season.

Their visit is part of a four-year, 80,000km circumnavigation of the Pacific called the Moananuiākea Voyage.

This story was first published by rnz.co.nz on 15 November 2025 as as Hawaiian voyaging canoe welcomed back to Waitangi. If you want to learn more, you can also watch a video by RNZ’s Tiana Haxton and read an earlier story by me previewing the arrival of the Hawaiian waka.