NEWS 7
The Gisborne Herald • Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Ko Titirangi te maunga, Ko Uawa te awa, Ko Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti te iwi
Paikea in the big apple Uia mai koia whakahuatia ake Ko wai te whare nei e? Ko Te Kani! Ko wai te tekoteko kei runga? Ko Paikea! Ko Paikea!
I
nā te haka, inā te kōrero, inā te kaupapa i whakawhiti atu ai tō mātau rōpū iti o Te Aitanga a Hauiti ki rāwāhi i tērā marama ki Vancouver ki te whakatakoto kaupapa ki te whare wānanga o British Columbia, ki te whare taonga, American Museum of Natural History i New York hoki kia kite i tō tātau tipuna, i a Paikea, i hakaina ai e Mīkaera Pēwhairangi, e hakaina tonutia nei e tātau i te rā nei. He rangatahi tonu te āhua o te rōpū i haere, ko ngā tauira o te kura, ko ngā kaimahi toi, ko ngā kaikawe kaupapa mō āpōpō. Kāti he kaupapa tēnei i whakaarohia i mua rā, i wānangahia mai i te whakakitenga o Te Pou o Te Kani i whakatūria e mātau i Uawa i te tau 2003, ngā kaupapa toi i whakahaeretia e mātau i te Tairāwhiti nei, i te motu anō, tae noa ki rāwāhi, arā, te whakahoki ā-whakaahua, ā-ataata nei i ngā taonga a ō tātau tīpuna o Te Aitanga a Hauiti e noho ana i ngā whare taonga o iwi kē, i whenua kē. I whāia te kaupapa nei i raro i te maru o Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, o EIT, o Te Whare Wānanga o Tamaki me Cambridge University (UK) i raro i te ingoa Te Ataakura, tōna tikanga he whakahoki ā-ataata i ngā taonga (Digital Taonga Repatriation). Ka mutu ka whāwhātia ngā momo hangarau o te wā hei whakahoki ā-ataata mai i ā tātau taonga ki a mātau. Nā reira kua rau mai ērā momo whakaahua ki roto i Te Rauata, tā mātau pātaka ipurangi hei whakairi atu i ā mātau kōrero, whakaahua hoki mō ēnei taonga. Inā te tauira, te pou o Hinematioro i whakakitea atu i tērā tau i te Whare Taonga o te Tairāwhiti hei kaupapa whakanui i Te Ara o Kōpū. Heoi anō, ko tētahi o ngā take i wānangahia e mātau, ko te hanga anō i te whare o Te Kani i tū i Uawa i tērā atu rau tau, engari hanga ā-ataata nei. He whare i riro i atu rā, ā, kei te mōhiotia kei hea ngā wāhanga o taua whare e putu ana. Nā reira ko tā mātau mahi he tuku tāngata ki ngā whare taonga kei reira ngā taonga e noho ana, ki te tūtakitaki ki ngā kaitiaki o aua whare, ki te kōrero hoki ki ngā taonga, mō ngā taonga, ki te whakatakoto anō i te ara whanaunga i waenganui i ngā taonga nei me tō rātau kāinga. Ka mutu ka whai wāhi mātau ki te haere ki Florence, Italy me London hoki i tērā tau, ka kite i ētāhi o ngā wāhanga o te whare, otirā te heru hoki o Te Kani. I tēnei tau ka haere ki Vancouver me New York. Ko te kaupapa nui ki Vancouver he mea tono e rātau kia kauhau mātau ki ngā
Students from Tolaga Bay Area High School and Kuranui with Paikea at the American Museum of Natural History, New York. Back from left: Owen Rayner, ‘Paikea’, Te Atapo Kirikiri. Front: Manuel Wehi, Te Aotaihi Kutia-Ngata, Taylor-Paige Paaka-Selwyn, Hinemaia Kupenga-Keefe. mātanga o te ao wānanga tangata mō tā mātau kaupapa mō Te Ataakura. Waimarie hoki ka tūtaki, ka noho tahi, ka wānanga tahi me ngā uri tangata whenua o reira, koinā te tino hua ki ā mātau tamariki o te puta ki rāwāhi, te kite ā-kanohi, te rongo ā-ngākau i ngā mana o ngā iwi taketake o whenua kē. Ka pau te kotahi wiki ki Vancouver ka rere ki New York, ko te take nui ko te tūtaki, ko te kōrero hoki ki a Paikea tekoteko, ki a Paikea tipuna, ko ia i tū i runga i a Te Kani i roto o Uawa, ā, e noho nei ināianei ki te whare taonga e kiīa nei ko te American Museum of Natural History. Kāti he aha hoki he kōrero mō te tūtakitanga atu? He mea whakairo te taonga nei e ngā ringa pupuri i te whao. He mea kōrero, he mea haka e ō tātau tīpuna, nā ka uru mai te momo o te wehi, ka tangi, ka mihi, ka haka, ka waiata, ka pā te ringa, ka rongo te ngākau. Koinei te āhua o ā mātau kōrero mō Paikea nei. Koinā te paunga o te wiki, he kauhau ki ngā tamariki kura, ki ngā manuhiri ki te whare taonga mō tō tātau tipuna nei, mō Paikea, ngā kōrero o Hawaiki mai, tatū ki roto o ngā whare wānanga o te Tairāwhiti, tutuki nei ki Whāngārā-mai-tawhiti. Ko te painga tonu atu, i reira anō te whakakitenga nui o Tohorā i whakaaturia tuatahitia i Te Papa Tongarewa, ā, e haere ana ki te ao. Ehara i te mea ka pau katoa te noho ki te whare taonga engari tērā mātau te peka atu kia kite i a Helen Clark i te United Nations, nā tōna hoa, nā Parekura tonu i whakarite, ka mihi, ka tangi. Heoi i whāwhātia e mātau ngā āhuatanga o te Āporo Nui nei, te hokohoko, te hareere, te kai, te aha noa, te aha noa, te mahi a te tūruhi, mutu ana ka hoki taumaha mai ki te kāinga, taumaha o ngā pēke, taumaha hoki o te ngākau mō Paikea i mahue atu rā i New York.
Te Aitanga a Hauiti at the Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
Te Aitanga a Hauiti saying farewell to Paikea at the American Museum of Natural History, New York.
Nā reira e wānanga tonu nei mātau i tēnei take, e kōrero tonu ana ki ngā kaitiaki o te whare taonga rā, ā, ka whakatārewatia te take mō te wā poto nei, ka hoki anō ki te tono. Nā reira e mihi ana ki ngā kaitautoko i tēnei haerenga o Te Aitanga a Hauiti, ngā whānau, ngā marae, Te Kura ā-Rohe o Uawa me Kuranui me NZMACI (New Zealand Institute Māori Arts and Crafts) hoki. Nō koutou te whakaaro nui, nō mātau te waimarie, ka mihi. Whakakau Paikea, whakakau he tipua, whakakau he taniwha, whakakau he tangata!
A
haka composed by Mikaere Pewhairangi of Tokomaru Bay in 1880 led a group of Te Aitanga a Hauiti from Uawa to attend a conference at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and to visit the tekoteko “Paikea” at the American Museum of Natural History in New York last month. The group made up of students, young leaders and artists were part of a long standing project, initiated in 2003 with the Te Pou o Te Kani exhibition held in Tolaga Bay, and numerous events since, to reconnect — through cultural exchange and digital technology — with taonga and artefacts from the Uawa region now housed in institutions around the world. In recent years Te Aitanga a Hauiti have worked with Nga Pae o te Maramatanga, EIT, Auckland University and Cambridge University in the UK on a project named Te Ataakura to build a digital database of artefacts from the area as part of a drive to build the cultural “capital” of Te Aitanga a Hauiti. The Transit of Venus Exhibition staged in June last year at the Tairawhiti Museum is an example of this with the focus of the exhibition being on a piece entitled “te pou o
Te Aitanga a Hauiti were fortunate to spend time with Helen Clark at her United Nations office in New York. Back, from left: Manuel Wehi, Te Rauhuia Ngata-Kutia, Lance Ngata (obscured), Te Atapo Kirikiri (obscured), Owen Rayner. Middle: Rawinia Kutia, Kelly Blackman, Hinemaia Kupenga-Keefe, Te Aotaihi Kutia-Ngata, Helen Clark, Hineteariki Parata-Walker, Alison Waru, Taylor-Paige Paaka-Selwyn. Front: Hataraka Gibson, Whetu Rangihaeata, Wayne Ngata. Hinematioro”. As for the Paikea tekoteko, one of the projects Te Aitanga a Hauiti is proposing is to rebuild the house Te Kani, that stood in Tolaga Bay in the 19th century, in digital form using the data, images, relationships and expertise built up over the past 10 years. People from Tolaga Bay visited some of the pieces of the house in Florence and London last year, and of course Paikea in New York last month. The opportunity to visit Vancouver came through an invite by the University of British Columbia to present to, and participate in an international workshop entitled “Artefacts of Encounter”, where we
Local Songhees elders welcoming Te Aitanga a Hauiti to Camosun College, Victoria on Vancouver Island.
talked about our Digital Taonga Repatriation project and also to spend time with First Nations people on Vancouver Island, which was certainly a highlight for our young people. By all accounts however the absolute highlight was seeing, meeting and greeting Paikea, who has been housed at the American Museum of Natural History since 1908. Certainly there were tears and song and we were privileged to spend the week there presenting and discussing Paikea with visiting school groups and members of the public. The Tohora — Whales Exhibition which began at Te Papa Tongarewa last year, was also on display there so we complemented each other. We also took the opportunity to spend some very fruitful time with Helen Clark at the United Nations and are thankful to our late, great Parekura Horomia for organising that visit. New York of course is all that it is made out to be, crowded, busy, big and brassy and so we all enjoyed our time there. Although we were sad to leave Paikea tekoteko behind, a mutually beneficial relationship with the museum in New York has been established and plans are being made to do more work with them. We are grateful for the support received from whanau and marae of the students who participated, Tolaga Bay Area School and Kuranui, and the New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute in Rotorua.