Our Stories - Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu

Te Kereme always speak

It was commonly said in the 1980s and 1990s, as court decisions began to give real effect to legal references to the principles of the Treaty, that “the Treaty always speaks.” That is to say, the Treaty is always relevant in contemporary Aotearoa/New Zealand, and how it is to be applied must be determined by the circumstances of the time.

Tātai Aroraki

Kaituhituhi Arielle Kauaeroa met Kāi Tahu astronomer Victoria Campbell in the heartland of Te Waipounamu stargazing – Takapō – for a kōrero just before the setting of Matariki earlier this year. He aha kā hua o tē kōrero nei? The emerging fruits of this conversation? The whakaaro that our people are empowered through the collective revival of our ancestral knowledge.

A Forward Pass on Understanding

From professional rugby to parenthood, author of children’s books to the owner of a wellness centre franchise, if there is anything former Māori All Black and Crusader Tim Bateman has taken from his diverse career to date it’s the power of understanding.

Pāua to the People

The fight here in Puketeraki isn’t about “Iwi vs Kiwi”. It isn’t about controlling the fishery. It’s about restoration and rebuilding the mauri of this area so pāua can flourish and it’s about ensuring that our mokopuna, and their mokopuna can have access to pāua and learn about mahika kai

Indigenising the Landscape

Te Ari Prendergast started his career as a Toi Waihanga working on the biggest urban design project in the history of Aotearoa: reimagining and rebuilding the city of Ōtautahi after the 2011 earthquake. Te Ari talks to kaituhi Ila Couch about his mahi, his mentors, and why he wants us to imagine a marae on Mars.

One Hundred Years Young

It isn’t often that one gets to spend time with a centuarian, especially one with as much zest for life as Pamela Jungersen (née Hislop)

A Career Goal Fulfilled

The journey to the blue uniform can take many paths and be motivated by many different reasons. For Constable James Bowden, his path to the police was one he says he was always going to walk, but his journey towards his new career was paralleled by his hīkoi towards his Māoritanga.

Rereka ki te Toka

This past summer, three Ngāi Tahu expeditions followed the path of the birds and whales to the Southern Ocean, reigniting a long-standing interest in one of the most enigmatic regions of the world’s oceans. Gazing south, a vast expanse of water links Bluff to the great ice barriers guarding Te Tiri o Te Moana, the Antarctic Continent.

Takaraha – An endangered taonga

The Ngāi Tahu takiwā is home to the nationally endangered takaraha or yellow-eyed penguin, also called hoiho. This seabird is one of the rarest penguin species in the world and is a taonga species for Ngāi Tahu.

Te Ao Māori

Standing on the windswept shingle of Te Mata Hapuku (Birdlings Flat), Tia Barrett feels at home. It’s a familiar place. It’s where her mother, Dr Alvina Edwards, grew up and it’s just an hour’s drive from Ōtautahi where Tia spent her first 10 years before mum moved them up north.