Our Stories - Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu

Attitude matters

In November 2018 Colleen Brown (Ngāi Tahu – Ōraka Aparima) was inducted into the Attitude Hall of Fame at the Attitude Awards, an annual ceremony celebrating the achievements of New Zealanders living with disabilities. Colleen received this honour in recognition of her contribution to the disability sector over the last 38 years, and is determined to use the award to continue to fight for equality and inclusion – and she is calling on her iwi to support her.

Keeping mahinga kai on the menu

Practicing mahinga kai requires intimate knowledge of our seas and waterways – which makes participation difficult for most Ngāi Tahu living in urban centres. The difficulty is compounded by decreasing water quality and increased pressure on our fisheries, denying us and our tamariki the chance to participate in one of our earliest forms of cultural expression. Pere Tainui is a man determined to keep kaimoana on the menu.

Takiwā Tourism

Indigenous tourism has been a particularly fast-growing trend in recent years, with more travellers seeking a meaningful interaction with the traditional culture of the countries they visit. Here in Aotearoa – already a popular tourist destination – more than half of international visitors are likely to take part in experiences where they learn about Maōri culture. This presents an opportunity for flax roots tourism that gives travellers a genuine understanding of the history and values of Māori culture.

A Master Stroke: Creating the next generation of Māori leaders

Nearly 130 years after Tā Apirana Ngata of Ngāti Porou became its first Māori graduate, the University of Canterbury is achieving success in being the first tertiary institution in the country to offer a Master of Māori and Indigenous Leadership (MMIL) degree. The two-year degree is the brainchild of senior lecturer and Head of School – Aotahi/Māui School of Māori and Indigenous Studies, Sacha McMeeking (Kāi Tahu – Waihao).

Talking Maunga

A visit by whānau members of famed mountaineer Tenzing Norgay to the Ngāi Tahu rohe has been a meeting of minds and hearts, with strong similarities between our cultures, and shared experiences in the not so fine balance between conservation with tourism.

Te Ao o te Māori

Harlem-Cruz Atarangi Ihaia surprised herself as much as anyone else when she won the title of Miss Universe New Zealand 2017. The young Ngāi Tahu woman happily admits she is most comfortable in her trackies and a hoody, so when she entered the contest she never thought she’d get past the first audition.

Autumn Mahi Māra – song of the tīpuna

Autumn is the time of harvest, which makes it traditionally a time of giving thanks to Papatūānuku for the bounty she provides. Early autumn is also the time for winter vegetables to be planted to ensure the māra has a bountiful supply of kai during the winter months – silver beet, kale, leeks, spinach, and brassicas like cabbage (red and green), cauliflower, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts. The trick I have found to growing vegetables in autumn is to make sure the soil has plenty of compost or other organic-type fertilisers.

Reviews
Books

Roger Blackley’s Galleries of Maoriland is an important new book that focuses on the art of the colonial period in New Zealand and the cultures of Maoriland. Maoriland is, Blackley says, as much a period as it is a place

Aukaha

Shoe designer Maree MacLean was born in Aotearoa and is of Ngāi Tahu and Te Whānau-a-Apanui descent. She has lived in a number of fashion hotspots overseas including Milan, Copenhagen, Singapore, and Shanghai, where she dressed Chinese superstar Fan Bing Bing, before specialising in shoe design and collection building at the Arsutoria school in Milan.

He Tangata
Trevor McGlinchey

Trevor McGlinchey began his career as a freezing worker and worked in a number of seasonal and other short-term industries until 1986, when he founded Te Mahi o Waitaki Trust in Ōamaru. This was a kaupapa Māori trust that developed and operated social enterprises and community initiatives.