page_title: Culture of New Zealand
section_title: Pākehā (New Zealand European) culture
hierarchical_section_title: Culture of New Zealand / Pākehā (New Zealand European) culture
caption_attribution_description: English: Men at their camp site displaying a catch of rabbits and fish, 1909 Reference Number: 1/2-023746-G Unidentified photographer Original negative Photographic Archive, Alexander Turnbull Library Find out more about this image from the Alexander Turnbull Library.
context_page_description: The culture of New Zealand is essentially a Western culture influenced by the unique environment and geographic isolation of the islands, and the cultural input of the indigenous Māori people and the various waves of multi-ethnic migration which followed the British colonisation of New Zealand.
  Polynesian explorers reached the islands between 1250 and 1300. Over the ensuing centuries of Polynesian expansion and settlement, Māori culture developed from its Polynesian roots. Māori established separate tribes, built fortified villages, hunted and fished, traded commodities, developed agriculture, arts and weaponry, and kept a detailed oral history. Regular European contact began from 1800, and British immigration proceeded rapidly, especially from 1855. Colonists had a dramatic effect on the Māori, bringing Christianity, advanced technology, the English language, numeracy and literacy. In 1840 Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, intended to enable the tribes to live peacefully with the colonists.
context_section_description: Pākehā culture (usually synonymous with New Zealand European culture) derives mainly from that of the British, particularly English settlers who colonised New Zealand in the nineteenth century. Until about the 1950s many Pākehā saw themselves as a British people, and retained strong cultural ties to "Mother England". Yet there was a common perception that people born in New Zealand were likely to be physically stronger and more adaptable than people in Britain. The largely rural life in early New Zealand led to the image of New Zealanders being rugged, industrious problem solvers. Another distinctive trait of Pākehā culture has been the egalitarian tradition, as opposed to the British class system. Within Pākehā culture there are also sub-cultures derived from Irish, Italian and other European groups, as well as various non-ethnic subcultures.
  It has been claimed that Pākehā do not actually have a culture, or if they do it is not a distinct one. Part of the problem is that high culture is often mistaken for culture in general, and the lack of recognition historically given to New Zealand's artists, writers and composers is seen as evidence of a lack of culture. In contrast, Pākehā pop culture is generally highly visible and valued. Others argue that belief in the 'absence' of culture in NZ is a symptom of white privilege, allowing members of a dominant group to see their culture as 'normal' or 'default', rather than as a specific position of relative advantage. One of the goals of Pākehā anti-racist groups of the 1980s was to enable Pākehā to see their own culture as such, rather than thinking what they did was normal and what other people did was 'ethnic' and strange.
  From the 1980s Pākehā began to further explore their distinctive traditions and to argue that New Zealanders had a culture which was neither Māori nor British. There was an interest in "Kiwiana"—items from New Zealand's heritage that are seen as representing iconic Kiwi elements, such as the pōhutukawa (New Zealand Christmas tree), pāua-shell ash-tray, Buzzy Bee, Pineapple Lumps, gumboots and jandals.
caption: European settlers developed an identity that was influenced by their rustic lifestyle.[15] In this scene from 1909, men at their camp site display a catch of rabbits and fish.
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