TE KARAKA

He Whakaaro
Increased protection for ancestral lands and waters

Three recent judgments from three different courts have had lawyers talking in the last few weeks. The first two made national headlines. The third was not so widely reported, but may prove to be the most important in terms of protection of ancestral lands and waters.

Te Ao o te Māori
Nathan Wilson

As the tide rises and falls, the ocean moves the black sands up and down the beach and with it deposits of gold concealed within its grains. Nathan Wilson (Ngāti Māhaki), with help from his whānau, makes a living from mining the fine gold dust using long-handled shovels, a home-made sluice box, and water pumped from a nearby river.

He Kōrerorero
Dangerous stuff

Since I was a small child, I’ve collected things; books majorly, but also edged weapons and seashells, music (as in 78s and LPs as well as tapes and CDs) and artworks… not paintings or drawings (I enjoy making my own) but furniture and work by skilled wood-turners. Some jewellery, primarily pounamu. And, also since I was a kid, I’ve made survival kits.

The Lifeline

The business card simply says Dr Graham Kitson, Relationship Director. Nothing here to suggest that the man sitting in front of me helped kept Te Kerēme on track in the 1990s.

However it was Dr Graham Kitson’s introduction of Tipene O’Regan to Japanese businessman and philanthropist Masashi Yamada that enabled a lifeline to be extended to Ngāi Tahu while the tribe waited for the result of its Waitangi Tribunal hearings. It came in in the form of a series of loans which enabled the tribe to continue with Te Kerēme.

Kā Manukura o Te Reo
Postcards from Amerika

Eleanor Roosevelt said to do something every day that scares you. In my case it is do something every two years which freaks me out so much I break out in cold sweats, develop a stutter, lose sleep, and am left questioning my mental stability.

Toi Iho
Carving out a legacy

Rongomai-Tawhiti Parata-Taiapa is following in the footsteps of his famous grandfather.

When Rongomai-Tawhiti Parata-Taiapa visited St Mary’s Church in Tikitiki with his father and daughter, it was an occasion that had so many beginnings and endings. His daughter Hamoterangi was a newborn. His father Barney would pass away a short time later. And the church was where their whanaunga Pine Taiapa started his illustrious career as a carver.

Kā ara tūpuna
Waitarakao to Wairewa: the ninety mile beach

At sunset on 9 January 1844, Bishop George Augustus Selwyn stood atop the south eastern hills of Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū (Banks Peninsula) and gazed down upon the magnificent view of the vast plains to the south. He noted the apparently interminable line of the “ninety miles beach” which extended in a continuous line of…

Kai
A taste for pūtakitaki

I’m not interested in blasting ducks. This is a food resource. When you research our mahinga kai, you realise our food has often been turned into someone else’s sport. The best push is a drive … We have learnt to sit back and not rush the birds.

Reviews
The Luminaries

And where do you start? At over 800 pages just doing a précis is a mammoth injustice to the work itself. But tucked into its massive size is a unique character deserving of closer inspection. He is Te Rau Tauwhare, a character of Ngāi Tahu descent and based on a real person.

Hei Mahi Māra
Toxic legacy

The winter storms have arrived earlier than expected this season of Matariki for me and my whānau. We have recently been informed that the soil on our property has been found to contain lead at levels well over the residential limit. The only reason we found out was because of the rebuild of our new home, where apparently some bright spark figured out they could be liable for the health and safety of the workers.