TE KARAKA

Advancing bioenergy

As the largest Māori commercial forest owner in New Zealand, Ngāi Tahu Forest Estates is keen to ensure a sustainable future. It is working with Development West Coast in the hopes of establishing additional bioenergy plants there, starting with a feasibility study. Bioenergy, as the name suggests, is energy from biological sources like wood and other plant materials, and can be used as a solid, liquid, or gas. It is renewable, unlike finite fossil fuels such as coal and oil. It is the most-used renewable energy globally, ahead of hydroelectricity and wind. It has become a major industry in many European countries and there is potential for this to happen in New Zealand as well.

Maunga atua

It is a haerenga to bring Moeraki stories to life, and to ensure that those on the Moeraki paepae know what they are talking about. Sometimes the haerenga, which happens every few years, from the mountains to the sea. This time, the Moeraki rōpū is travelling from the coast to the mountains. Along the way they hear the whakapapa of the Waitaki Valley, and the importance of the Waitaki awa to Moeraki. They pass through the landscape as the kōrero comes to life. It is much more powerful this way, experiencing the kōrero among the majesty and power of the whenua, rather than listening to the stories at a wānanga.

Kā Whare Māori ki Awarua: Bluff’s “Māori Houses”

“Far to the south in the town of Bluff … in difficult circumstances, a small Māori community descended from Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Māmoe, and Waitaha tribes, combined to institute an assembly hall with a courtyard to serve as a centre for the practice of Māori songs and the entertainment of visitors.”

Mahi Māra Winter
Aloe Vera & Strawberries

My favourite part of winter is looking at the empty spaces in the māra and planning for the coming spring growth. Even though we had a cool spring and summer, my strawberry patch was incredibly productive this year and rewarded my whānau for their foraging efforts. Having berryfruits in the māra is a real treat not just for one’s taste buds, but also for one’s health.

Reviews
Books

This book came from a “Treaty on the Ground” conference held in 2016 at Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Museum. It is a sometimes awkward attempt to cover the wide-ranging offerings of some of the participants. The phrase “Treaty on the Ground” is from Pākehā historian Ruth Ross’ 1972 piece attacking the “woolly-mindedness” that had allowed the Treaty to become all things to all people. The conference covered developments from 1945 to the present – although David Williams also traces links to Te Tiriti back to the Magna Carta – with a broad variety of offerings.

He Tangata
Emma Wyeth

Dr Emma Wyeth belongs to the Parata, Ellison, and Taiaroa whānau. Emma grew up in Karitane where many generations of her whānau have lived, and still do. She is based in Dunedin, where she completed her studies in genetics, and has worked in the field of Māori public health in the Department of Preventive and Social Medicine Te Tari Hauora Tūmatanui at the University of Otago for the last 10 years.

Cultural Connection

A voice sings out: Areare-mai-rā-ōu-tarika!

Thirty-four voices sing back, in a chorus of different accents. Some are Aussie, some Kiwi, most of them somewhere in between. Some ring proud and confident; others cradle the unfamiliar Māori syllables like a new parent cradling their first child.

Areare-mai-rā-ōu-tarika!
Lend me your ears!

Don’t just look at the pictures

Atholl Anderson and Brian Allingham were responsible for getting the Ngāi Tahu tribal rock art project kick started. Twenty-five years later, on different sides of the Pacific, both Gerard and Chris have also been immersed in rock art heritage. The pair first met a few years ago at a rock art symposium in Barcelona, and immediately realised the parallels in both their research and their whakapapa. In May 2016, with their PhDs finished, they got together in British Columbia to support a local Indian band excavate at an important rock shelter, and to talk at the Nlaka’pamux Rock Art Conference, hosted by the Nlaka’pamux Nation Tribal Council, in Lytton, British Columbia.

He Aitaka a Tāne
Mānia – Hardy sedge makes a soft, warm bed

Mānia is a densely-tufted, hardy, grass-like sedge that historical records suggest was mainly used for bedding and waist belts by Ngāi Tahu. Botanical references describe it as a very distinctive ornamental grass with colours ranging from shiny to dark green to yellow/green, red/green, bronze, and various shades of brown or golden brown, depending on the source.

Ngā Hau e Whā
From the Editor

In this issue we take the opportunity to acknowledge Tā Mark Solomon on his 18 years as Kaiwhakahaere o Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. We reflect upon his contribution to Ngāi Tahu, to Māoridom, and in fact to the whole of Aotearoa.