The battle for te reo Māori to be normalised has been ongoing in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Back in 1987, critics warned that making te reo Māori an official language would divide New Zealanders, but 35 years later, reo advocates say te reo Māori has had the opposite effect and has been something that has united us.
Te reo Māori was once the only language in Aotearoa. Then it was overtaken by English and almost became extinct in the early 1900s. It wasn't until 35 years ago, on August 1, 1987, that it was made an official language of this country.
Now this - Māori language metallers Alien Weaponry are about to open for Guns N' Roses.
The resurrection of te reo Māori has been spectacular, but it's been an uphill struggle.
"It takes one generation to lose a language, three generations to restore, so we have a long way to go," said Professor Rawinia Higgins, Māori Language Commissioner chairperson.
A petition in 1972 led to the start Māori Language Day, now known as Māori Language Week. But soon after in 1984, the simple act of saying 'Kia ora' on the phone nearly lost Dame Naida Glavish her job as a tolls operator.
"It wasn't a comfortable place to be in, however, it was an issue of principle and the principle will always win," Dame Naida said.
She said her actions were met with racism and even then-Prime Minister Robert Muldoon got involved.
"Muldoon, he said, 'I've been overseas deciding the economics of this country, and I come back here and some girl wants to say kia ora. Well as far as I'm concerned, she can say kia ora, so long as she doesn't want to say g'day blue'."
Glavish was referring to the controversial sporting incident when Australia cricket was found guilty of underarm bowling.
Another event that made a huge impact in Aotearoa was in 1999. Dame Hinewehi Mohi took it upon herself to sing the national anthem in te reo Māori at the Rugby World Cup. It was met with outrage at home.
"It was very difficult because it challenged everything I thought about our culture and where we were at with it."
Now 20 years on, Newshub asked a few Cantabrians what they think about Te Reo.
"I come from a country where there are multiple languages, but I find Māori is a nice language," one person said.
One person said they knew about 20 Te Reo words, while another said they had learned about 100.
Stats NZ data revealed three in five New Zealanders believed Te Reo should be a compulsory language in primary schools.
And last month a key report showed te reo Māori is helping with wellbeing.
"We've seen such a groundswell of people who want to learn te reo Māori, and we want to continue to promote that and continue to spread the language, and achieve our aspirations of one million speakers by 2040," said Prof Higgins.
So a long way from extinction, but still so very far to go.
