A Māori movement has lit "beacons of warning" in Wellington to oppose the replica Endeavour ship's arrival.
On Friday, the replica entered Wellington Harbour as part of the Tuia 250 commemorations, a programme designed to celebrate Aotearoa's "voyaging heritage" and acknowledge encounters between Māori and Pakeha from 1769 to 1770. It marks 250 years since Captain James Cook came to New Zealand.
It's been touring the country with other boats over the last two months, attracting people interested in touring the ship as well as angry anti-colonisation protesters.
Mau Whenua - a movement of Taranaki Whānui iwi supported by other tangata whenua - opposes the Endeavour's "long history as a hostile and dangerous vessel, whose arrival brought devastation to indigenous peoples wherever it went".
The group lit "ahi kā" or home fires along the Miramar peninsula at several pā sites on Friday as well as smoke signals.
"Mau Whenua will not be part of celebrating what the Endeavour represents: the dispossession of the land, resources and rights of indigenous people," the group said.
It also criticised the Tuia 250 commemorations, saying a celebration of the "beginning of the colonisation of Māori is insensitive and ill-considered". Mau Whenua said taxpayers' money should be spent on other cultural events other than Tuia 250.
Despite opposition, large crowds have come out to see the ship in locations like Auckland and Gisborne. When it reached the City of Sails in October, it was met with cheers.
"It is a uniting of two cultures coming together - that's what it should be about," one spectator told Newshub.
Responding to criticism prior to the replica setting sail in September, Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr - co-chair of the Tuia 250 national coordinating committee - said: "If other iwi don't want us to turn up, we'll wait to hear them tell us that. But at the moment we've had quite good engagement by quite a number of different iwi and they're waiting for this chance to tell the stories of what happened when Cook turned up there.
"So it's not just to talk about whether people are happy to have a replica of the Endeavour turning up - are they ready to have canoes that represent the great voyaging and discovery explorations of their ancestors turning up at these places as well?"
In a statement, Ministry for Culture and Heritage deputy chief executive Tamsin Evans said Tuia 250 encourages "honest conversations about our history" that "includes a range of perspectives".
"I fully respect the position of the Mau Whenua group," she said.
"We have now reached a place where local iwi have chosen to welcome the flotilla crews in the spirit of Tuia, which is about acknowledging the past that binds us and looking to our shared future."
The flotilla will be in Wellington until December 3, before it moves on to Lyttelton and Te Māhia.
