A Place of Beauty

I've visited Te Rau Aroha Marae at Bluff in the deep south (near Invercargill) a number of times, yet I'm still amazed by the beauty of the carvings that decorate this place. The marae is set above the small, scruffy, portside town of Bluff, on the low rise of Bluff Hill and is home to Ngai Tahu's Awarua Runanga. It has commanding views and, within its own fenceline, a wealth of traditional and contemporary craftsmanship.

And the exterior carving is just a hint of the colourful contemporary interpretations that lie within. Much of the overall design and carving has been created by Maori carver and artist, Cliff Whiting (Te Whanau-a-Apanui), who was also responsible for the carvings at Te Marae Pounamu at The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington.

[Unfortunately, I've been sidetracked by earthquake events in Christchurch these past few weeks, hence the lack of recent posts on this blog. But I hope this will change in the coming weeks and I'll be able to continue bringing you regular snippets about New Zealand's indigenous Maori life and culture].

Museum Stories

I took these two photographs in Auckland Museum last year. I was taken not only with the beauty of the carving but also the story behind how they came to be there. The boards were created in the late 18th century by the Te Whanau-a-Apanui people of the eastern Bay of Plenty (East Cape) at Maraenui, near Te Kaha. The museum exhibit shows the central barge boards (maihi) and doorway (kuwaha) of a pataka (storehouse), which was dismantled in the early 1820s and moved to Raukokere, where new carvings were begun. Before they were completed they were hidden in a cave at Te Kaha to protect them from the 1823 raids by the Northland Ngapuhi tribe. They were recovered from the cave in the 1890s and bought by the Auckland Museum in 1912. I have featured the Maraenui Marae, Te Kaha and Raukokere on this blog previously. Just click on any of the names in the label line below this post to take you to photographs of each of them.

Te Kaha - An East Coast Marae

The skies were putting on a show the afternoon I rolled into the little east Coast town of Te Kaha - home to around 350 people, who live in homes gathered around the Te Kaha Marae - sometimes also called Tukaki Marae

The main coast road curves around the small hill that offers the marae a commanding outlook up and down the coast. Across the road, in total contrast, sits the new Te Kaha Hotel, which clings to the cliffs above a wide sweep of East Coast beach.

There wasn't a soul about the day I drove through and, with an eye on the clock and due in Hicks Bay later that afternoon, I only had time for a brief stop. But it was nice to sit there and reflect on how the marae scene might have looked back in 2007, when locals staged a massive powhiri (welcome), for Corporal Willie Apiata to celebrate his being awarded the Victoria Cross. Apiata - like New Zealand filmmaker, Taika Waititi, calls this marae home. I suspect the little community hadn't seen so much action for decades, as then-Prime Minister Helen Clark, Defence Force chiefs and Maori dignitaries arrived to congratulate Willie Apiata in the traditional Maori way. Also in the traditional Maori way, the crowd of over 3,000 visitors was treated to a traditional hangi feast - crayfish, mussels, oysters, titi (mutton bird) and more - prepared by the Te Kaha locals. All of that required tractors to help burrow out hangi pits big enough to cope with the numbers.

Te Kaha Marae sits within the rohe (tribal area) of Te Whanau-a-Apanui.

www.apanui.co.nz

Maumahara - Remember

Yesterday I introduced the stunning cross-cultural works of Pakeha New Zealander, Jo Torr, which are featured in her exhibition ‘Nga Kakahu (The Cloaks),’ currently showing at Tauranga Art Gallery. (See below). Today, it seemed especially fitting that I follow that up with a Maori perspective on cross-cultural expression – ‘Maumahara / Remember’ Cloaks by Rokahurihia Ngarimu-Cameron (Te Whanau-a-Apanui, Whakatohea, Ngati Awa, Tuwharetoa, Ngati Airihi), which is now showing at Canterbury Museum in Christchurch. Ngarimu-Cameron weaves Maori and Pakeha together by taking traditional Maori off-loom hand-weaving garments into contemporary art practice via adapted European loom weaving techniques. The show is the result of a 2-year project for her Master of Fine Arts programme with the Textiles Section of the School of Art at Te Kura Matatiniki ki Otago (Otago Polytecthnic).

Rokahurihia Ngarimu-Cameron was born in Opotiki in the late 1940’s and was raised by her grandmother, Rokahurihia, and her mother, Te Oti, in a whare ponga on the pā at Hāwai in the rohe (district) of Te Whānau-a-Apanui. (I wrote about Hawai on this blog a week or so ago. Click on it in the label line below to see the marae). The whare (house) that she was raised in had an earth floor, no electricity, no running water, a single door-opening and an outside toilet. Her grandmother, Rokahurihia was then in her seventies. “She was “tuturu Māori” – which meant that we lived in the ways of our ancestors. She could not speak English – so all my verbal communication with her was in Māori. She was a survivor of the Tarawera eruption and a staunch member of the Ringatū church. I bear her name (which means tumbling and turning rocks) and dedicate my mahi (work) to her and to my mother,” writes Ngarimu-Cameron in her degree text.

When you enter into the darkened hall of Canterbury Museum where the exhibition is staged, you can almost feel that sense of history. Ngarimu-Cameron comes from a long line of traditional Maori weavers – four generations of them in fact – and weaving was an integral part of her life growing up at Hawai – not only as an artistic medium but as an essential practical skill that provided everyday essentials like kete (baskets) for food gathering. For her Fine Arts project though, she wanted to experiment and push the boundaries of harakeke (flax) fibre using European technology. To that end, she had to develop a new technique that would enable her to use short lengths of harakeke fibre on a traditional loom – the loom that stood in the corridor outside her Polytech studio space.

“The idea began to take shape that I could make use of the loom in my work for my
Master’s degree. I thought of my tūpuna and the difficulties they had faced and
overcome, and through karakia I consolidated my determination to succeed. I became excited by the possibility of finding ways of retaining my Māori identity by adapting
my treasured Māori methods and resources – in particular whītau (flax fibre) – to use on the
loom. Holding on to my whītau was of prime importance. There were problems to be
solved here. Most workers at the looms used yarn wound on a shuttle which can be
thrown backwards and forwards. The length of strands of whītau is limited by length
of the flax-blade, and a shuttle is impractical. Perhaps for this reason, no-one, as far
as I know, had looked to the loom as a tool for weaving Māori cloaks using whītau,” write Ngarimu-Cameron.

Throughout her art practice, Ngarimu-Cameron has always worked towards reinstating and strengthening traditional tecniques and the use of traditional resources and their preparation. For this body of work she used traditional off-loom
technology and the many techniques involved with this, for example the tāniko technique on the kaitaka; hide preparation; traditional dyeing; and preparation of feathers and fibres. She has a passion for the current renaissance in Māori weaving which she says “preserves and honours the ancient ways of making the artifacts of our material culture.”
“It is through such practices that we remain connected to our traditions. However, it was also important for me to connect with European culture in Aotearoa and also to honour and respect the European components of my own heritage. This found its way into my practice via the use of plaids for tartan patterning,” she writes. For Ngarimu-Cameron, the whole project was very much about bridging the gap between Māori and European culture in Aotearoa / New Zealand. In my view she succeeds beyond expectations. Her cloaks are masterpieces – an intricate interweaving of fibres, threads, feathers, knots and twirls – much of it dyed traditionally using tanekaha (celery pine bark) and paru (black mud) – that left me speechless. And that doesn’t happen often! www.canterburymuseum.com www.rokahurihia.co.nz

By The Beach

Hawai is a tiny community on State Highway 35 that travels around the North Island’s East Cape. It’s little more than a cluster of houses and a very cute marae that is tucked away from easy traffic view by a hedge and a thicket of cabbage trees. It goes without saying that I stopped here during my Frommers’ trip around the Cape in May. I was going to get out in the hope of finding someone to talk to about the community but as soon as I stopped my car outside the marae gates, a large barking dog came bounding towards me. I leapt straight back into my car. I had already been cornered by wild dogs in three separate ‘remote’ communities in the Far North and I wasn’t about to tempt fate a fourth time.

Instead, I wound down the car window and took these quick shots of the marae – or what I could see of it. It’s the Tunapahore Marae, home base of the Te Whanau-a-Apanui hapu (sub-tribe), Te Whanau-a-Haraawaka and the main wharenui is named Haraawaka. Leaving the snarling dog behind, I drove further down the road and parked opposite the camping ground on a rise overlooking the beach. Waves were crashing ashore, licking at the piles of driftwood. Like almost every East Cape beach I passed on my travels, it was completely empty of people and if it hadn’t been for that dog, I would have wandered along the sands. But it was a case of onward-ever-onward and I left, feeling a little bereft at my coming away with just a few hurriedly scribbled notes. Another time perhaps….. www.apanui.co.nz

One Bay, One Marae, Many Waka

It was a sunny, early afternoon in May when I swung sharply off State Highway 35 near the Omaio Store on East Cape. I’d spied a big group of waka pulled up onto the grassy hillocks just above the sand and I needed to investigate. (I wrote a blog about those waka back in May and you can read it if you enter Omaio into the blog search box above left). This narrow road – the Old Coast Road – continues on to the Hoani Waititi Reserve but I never got that far because in addition to the waka, there were the wonderful carvings on the marae directly across the road from the beach.

This marae – Omaio Marae – is home to the Te Whanau-a-Apanui hapu, The Whanau-a-Nuku; and the wharenui (meeting house) is named Rongomai-huatahi. The Te Whanau-a-Apanui iwi (tribe)– named after the 17th century ancestor – Apanui Ringamutu – has a large coastal territory that runs from Te Taumutu-o-Apanui, between Torere and Hawai, to Potaka at the top of East Cape. Their 13 hapu (sub-tribes) have established bases (mostly) close to the coast, where marine resources have traditionally been bountiful. www.apanui.co.nz

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.

Keeping Watch

Ruakokore, East Cape. May 2009. Ajr
I love the tiny settlement of Ruakokore on East Cape. It's most famous for its divine little church perched just above the waves - which I'll bring you another day, in another post - but in the meantime, how about this terrific little shelter and lookout, established for the Te Whanau-a-Apanui kaitiaki (guardians/caretakers) of the local fisheries. It looked totally abandoned but it was heading into winter when I passed through the community, so perhaps things are more active in the summer months. It's a great use of an old bus and a caravan and I love the way the driftwood has been reclaimed from the beach and propped up against the shelter. There's something quintessentially Kiwi and beachlike here that you don't often see much anymore in New Zealand's more populated, spruced up beach communities. I miss that iconic bach-like shabbiness of our beaches. Everything seems so modern and sanitised these days. Maybe I'm just getting old? Maybe this little scene just pressed all my nostalgia buttons?

A Hill, A River, A Beach, A Marae

Maraenui, East Cape. May 2009. Ajr

Maraenui on East Cape is heartland Te Whanau-a-Apanui territory. I turned off State Highway 35 and drove down the short side road to the stony beach there on my recent travels and found a cute little marae with a wharenui called Te Iwarau and a selection of marvellous carvings – two of which I featured here last week. It’s home to the hapu Te Whanau a Hikarukutai. All I had for company that day, as I stood under the giant pohutukawa in front of the marae, was a screeching magpie and the roar of the ocean. It was a wonderful feeling and I felt as if I had discovered a long-lost treasure.

The sea apparently dips away sharply here making it an excellent fishing spot. The nearby mouth of the Motu River is also known to be a good place to fish for kahawai in season – so no surprise to learn then, that the coastal flats and the hills behind were once home to numerous Maori pa sites. After I had spent some time sitting quietly outside the marae, soaking up the atmosphere, I drove on around the coast road to the lookout on Maraenui Hill and looked back across the sweep of the bay, thinking about the invisible layers of history that occupy our land. Maybe I had been seduced by the isolation and the beauty of the place, but I had no difficulty in imagining the scene complete with a number of working marae as it might have been a hundred years ago. www.apanui.co.nz

East Cape Carving

East Cape. May 2009. Ajr

I photographed these two beautiful carvings at the very pretty Maraenui Marae in Te Whanau-a-Apanui territory on East Cape. I took a side road down to the beach and there it was, tucked under a hill with a magnificent giant pohutukawa tree growing out front. I'll write more about this lovely spot tomorrow. Consider these handsome carvings a little introduction as I rush out the door to a meeting. www.apanui.co.nz

It's A Sign!

East Cape, North Island. May 2009 Ajr

I loved the shape of this pohutukawa tree as I made my way to the top of East Cape recently - travelling through Te Whanau-a-Apanui territory. I've spent the last year writing a series of indepth features on Customary Fisheries Regulations for Ngai Tahu's magazine Te Karaka here in the South Island, so I related well to this sign. www.apanui.co.nz www.ngaitahu.iwi.nz