1,000 signatures reached
To: Wellington City Council
#BringThemDown - William and Edward Wakefield monuments, street names and public dedications.
To: Wellington City Council
We call on you to remove all monuments, street names, and public dedications to William and Edward Wakefield.
We call on you to replace these monuments, street names and public dedications with names or narratives decided by tangata whenua.
Why is this important?
Edward and William Wakefield were imprisoned for three years in England for abducting a 15 year-old girl. Edward established and William led the New Zealand Company which swindled land out of Māori hands and promoted the systematic colonisation of Aotearoa.
Currently, there is a bronze bust of Edward Wakefield at Mt Victoria, a concrete structure at the Basin Reserve dedicated to William Wakefield, Wakefield Street, and other public dedications.
We must stop elevating colonial narratives like these because in doing so, we condone them. We must elevate the kōrero of tangata whenua. These must be removed.
Further reading:
[1] https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/121823266/racism-monuments-and-ethical-remembering
[2] https://nzhistory.govt.nz/people/edward-wakefield
[3] https://nzhistory.govt.nz/people/william-wakefield
[4] https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/121812546/two-monuments-to-sexual-predators-and-colonisers-could-be-scrapped-in-wellington
[5] https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/111973644/wellington-places-named-after-controversial-historical-figures-could-be-renamed
[6] https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/new-zealands-colonial-statues-engulfed-in-controversy?fbclid=IwAR2mPikxToRhr2orN89s5bwCNeoGWfPHRAj9m-ZoK8q4C0O_dDD01754OJ0
[7] https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/418937/controversy-over-nz-colonial-statues-long-standing
[8] https://youtu.be/iwclRJ2VC6A