From the Museum Files - Otago

Details of Ngati Porou Carvings, made near napier in the late 1870s

In the Collection of Otago Museum, Dunedin.

www.otagomuseum.govt.nz

If you click on the words Otago Museum in the label line below, you'll be able to view a number of other exquisite pieces from the museum's Maori Collections.

Carving Detail - A Museum Perspective

When I took these two photographs, I was testing my new camera as much as anything and, in a remiss moment, I forgot to note down the origins and history of this particularly beautiful carving. However, because it was situated between two large exhibits of Ngati Porou meeting house carvings, made near Napier in the late 1870s, I am guessing this piece may be part of the same group - although I could be wrong. I won't prattle on - just in case, leaving you instead, just to enjoy the exquisite craftsmanship of traditional carvers. www.otagomuseum.govt.nz

A Whale of a Tale

On Wednesday, I was sitting in a cafe when I heard there had been a whale stranding on Southshore Beach, near New Brighton, Christchurch. I've seen whales in the ocean before but never up close, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get a firsthand glimpse at one of these magnificent ocean creatures. I grabbed my camera and off I went. Unfortunately, the whale - a five-metre lactating female Cuvier's beaked whale - died just as I arrived but for all the sadness of that, there was still a beauty in the moment - her silky smooth grey skin, the yellow and white lichen-like speckles, her upright tail fin. Like most people there, I stood there will a mix of sadness and awe.

Despite the best efforts of those who had arrived early, while the whale was still struggling on the outgoing tide, it seemed inevitable that she would die. Department of Conservation representatives present said she may have already been ill, or perhaps hit by a boat and she may have come ashore to die. As is normal practice in the case of any whale stranding on the New Zealand coastline, the local Maori iwi (tribe), in this case Ngai Tahu, had been informed of the whale's death. They are then allowed to take the dead whale's jaw bone to use for carving. The body of the whale would then studied to determine a cause of death and then buried. Anyone who has watched the multi-awardwinning New Zealand movie "Whale Rider," will know that whales have a special place in Maori mythology. The North Island's East Coast iwi have often incorporated the whale into their carvings - an acknowledgement to the ancestral story of Uenuku and his sons Paikea and Ruatapu. Paikea is said to have survived a disaster at sea in which many others drowned, by calling to the gods and being saved by a whale - his tipuna (ancestors). He rode the whale to New Zealand and settled with the people at Whangara on the East Coast. The two large tribes, Ngati Porou (Eastland) and the South Island's Ngai Tahu both claim a strong ancestral links back to Paikea. www.ngatiporou.com www.ngaitahu.iwi.nz

South of Ruatoria

As the door lintel to this marae suggests, this is one of the Ngati Porou marae. Located just south of Ruatoria, perhaps it is THE Ngati Porou Marae - as in the main marae of the iwi. I haven't been able to find out and at the time, I couldn't find a sign on the property. I'm not going to guess beyond that. The Ngati Porou iwi has 53 hapu groups scattered across East Cape and Eastland and if I put the wrong name to this particular marae, I'm sure to offend someone. www.ngatiporou.com

Place of Whales

I didn’t step onto the beach at Whangaparaoa on East Cape, which I regret now. It’s where the famous canoes the Tainui and the Arawa landed after their journey from Hawaiiki around 1350AD. It would have been nice to have stepped onto a place of such historical importance. I did however, stop outside Whangaparaoa’s Kauaetangohia Marae, which sits just to one side of State Highway 35 – that marvellous road that takes you right around this spectacular Cape from Opotiki to Gisborne.

Whangaparaoa, near Cape Runaway, was named by the first Maori warriors who landed there. When the Arawa and the Tainui canoes landed, they found a whale on the beach and both sought to claim it as their own, so they could used the valuable flesh and whalebone. Whanga means bay, paraoa is Maori for sperm whale. Later, after the arrival of Europeans, the area became a busy whaling centre.

It was blowing a gale when I stopped in the tiny settlement at 3.30pm on May 8th. There was no one about, although smoke was curling from the chimney of a little house across the highway from the marae and an old school bus was parked beside the health centre near the gates of the marae. A small inter-denominational church made a solitary statement on the adjacent hilltop. Whangaparaoa forms the boundary of the Opotiki District and also that of the local tribe, Te Whanau-a-Apanui. Onwards to the north and east, the land becomes home to Ngati Porou.

Across the highway from the church, sits the little Maori school, Te Kura Mana Maori o Whangaparaoa, which according to Ministry of Education statistics, had a roll of just 29 in 2008. It’s a pretty place, with traditional Maori designs painted along the railings of the entrance pathway. I was especially intrigued by the little shelter in front of the school, which appeared (from a distance) to house a large sculpture of an octopus. The octopus, or te wheke does have a number of mythical associations for Maori, chief among them, the legend of Kupe and his battle with Te Wheke-a-Muturangi, which is far too long for me to re-tell here. But if you have an interest in the legend, it is detailed on Google. The concept of Te Wheke, the octopus is also sometimes used to define family health. The head of the octopus represents te whānau, the eyes of the octopus as waiora (total wellbeing for the individual and family) and each of the eight tentacles representing a specific dimension of health. The dimensions are interwoven and this represents the close relationship of the tentacles. Perhaps that’s why it’s outside the school – but I can’t be sure. Next time I'll pray the wind isn't blowing so hard and I'll take a closer look.

On a Hill

Whitianga Bay, 51.2km north east of Opotiki on the North Island’s East Cape, is one of the prettiest beaches you’ll find. I arrived there, on my recent North Island travels, on May 8th. It was a sunny afternoon at 1pm and when I saw the sign pointing to Whitianga Marae, I turned right and drove up a short, steep, gravel road and found myself directly in front of the marae. It sits on a grassy knoll overlooking the beautiful expanse of ocean and the pretty horseshoe bay, with a thicket of pine forest rearing up behind the buildings. I felt at ease there. I felt a strong sense of peace and calm for reasons I couldn’t explain and I stayed for some time, sitting out the front of the marae, thinking about all the people who might have walked under its divine, ornately carved waharoa (gateway).

I loved its lively painted fence. I admired the lush pa harakeke (flax grown for weaving) that grew to one side of the car park. I wondered about the war memorial commemorating the lives of all those lost in both world wars, the Korean war, the Malaysian and Indonesian conflicts and the Vietnam war; and I thought about the statue commemorating the life and bravery of Te Moananui-A-Kiwa Ngarimu (1918-1943), who at 24 was a second lieutenant in the 28th Maori Battalion in Tunisia in World War II. Of Ngati Porou and Te Whanau-a-Apanui descent, Ngarimu grew up in Rotorua. He was awarded the VC posthumously.

One of the most striking things about the Whitianga Marae is the beautifully-carved waharoa and as the afternoon shifted, I took great delight in photographing the marvellous shadows it cast across the marae lawn. They seemed to have a life of their own and as they stalked across the grass, it was almost as if the carving was coming to life. All up it was a beautiful little stopover that I still think about frequently.

East Cape Base

Ruatoria. May 2009. Ajr
I took this photograph of the main office of Te Runanga o Ngati Porou one Sunday morning in Ruatoria on East Cape. The Ngati Porou homeland is the most easterly region of the North Island - beautiful, remote and largely unspoiled - and Ngati Porou territorial boundaries run fromPotikirua in the north to Te Toka a Taiau in the south. It's a mountainous area edged with stunning beaches. many say that one of Ngati Porou's greatest assets had been its remoteness, its isolation and its strong sense of tribal identity and sovereignty - its mana motuhake. You can read more about the Ngati Porou iwi by checking their website - www.ngatiporou.com

Listening In

Tribal Radio

Ngati Porou

Ruatoria

East Cape

May 2009. Ajr

Rugby Winner

Ruatoria, East Cape. May 2009 Ajr

Tokomaru Bay, East Cape. May 2009 Ajr
I read a couple of days ago that Malcolm Mulholland’s book, “Beneath the Maori Moon: An Illustrated History of Maori Rugby,” (Huia Publishers) has won Best Maori Sports Book in Massey University’s inaugural Nga Kupu Ora Book Awards. Oddly just minutes before I read the small item in the newspaper, I had selected out these two photographs of the signs at two East Cape rugby clubs I drove by on my recent travels. I had also stopped at a Maori rugby game at Hick’s Bay the day before and had been amazed by the huge crowd of supporters gathered around the edge of the field. So obviously, despite the NZ Rugby Football Union’s decision to suspend all NZ Maori games in 2009, there is still huge support for Maori rugby. But I don’t know enough about rugby, nor the politics of the game, to comment on that decision. But I do think it’s admirable that Mulholland has produced an excellent visual and verbal record of almost a century of New Zealand Maori rugby. Mulholland is an editor at Te Putahi a Toi, Maori Studies at Massey University in Palmerston North. He edited ‘State of the Maori Nation’ (Reed Publishing) in 2006.

Bus Stop ......

...... Ngati Porou Style......

One of the thing I loved around travelling around East Cape recently, was that everything was decorated. A feast of colour and pattern and texture - even this humble little bus stop at Hicks Bay, near the top of the cape. www.ngatiporou.com
Images May 2009 Ajr

Church Glass

St Mary's, Tikitiki, East Cape. May 2009. Ajr

Last week I brought you a piece about William Pepere, the kaikarakia (lay preacher) at the astonishingly beautiful Tikitiki Church at East Cape. Since it’s Sunday and the little church is ‘open for business,’ I thought I’d pay a return visit and show you some of the beautiful stained glass windows. Little St Mary’s was built by the local Ngati Porou people as a memorial to Ngati Porou soldiers who died in the World Wars. It is a fitting tribute. The outstanding carvings and tukutuku panels are second to none. I forgot to mention in last week’s blog (below) that the elaborately-carved pulpit shown in one of the photographs (scroll down to view) was a gift from the Te Arawa tribe. This exquisitely crafted church was one of my favourite discoveries on my recent trip around New Zealand.

Ngati Porou Heartland

Ruatoria, Eastland. May 2009. Ajr

It was a quiet weekend morning when I rolled into the little East Cape town of Ruatoria, so unfortunately the Ngati Porou tourism office was closed. Their cute little blue building sits in the main street. The Ngati Porou tribal region is in the far`east of the North Island - from Potikirua in the north of East Cape to Te Toka a Taiau in the south. It's a remote and beautiful region and the Ngati Porou people have a strong sense of sovereignty, or mana motuhake. The tribe's most significant geographical icon is nearby sacred mountain of Hikurangi, which is at the centre of many legends. Ngati Porou now manage the mountain and access to it is granted here, in the little blue office in the main street of Ruatoria. www.ngatiporou.com

East Cape Architecture

Ruatoria, East Cape. May 2009. Ajr

I was immediately drawn to the compact nature of this little building in the main street of Ruatoria and the way the trellising suggests a nose and a pair of eyes (for me anyway). It was a quiet Sunday morning when I drove into this small, remote (largely) Maori settlement in heartland Ngati Porou territory. Everything was quiet. One man walking with his daughter said hello; two hunters with fierce pig dogs on the back of their ute drove slowly past me; and a lady wearing her pyjamas and dressing gown wandered up the street and into the local dairy. It was 9.15am.