Posts Tagged ‘Atholl Anderson’

Connecting people, place and time

In September, a group of whānau and Department of Conservation (DOC) staff travelled to the secluded island of Whenua Hou off the north-west coast of Rakiura. They gathered to witness the unveiling of three pouwhenua carved by Ngāi Tahu artist James York and supported by the Ngāi Tahu Fund, erected to acknowledge and embody the special relationship Ngāi Tahu shares with the motu.

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!

Reviews
Books

My tamariki were amazed by this story about Tamanui and through this book increased their knowledge about the survival of one of our most endangered birds, the kōkako, since the arrival of predator animals in our forests. This story tells of how Tamanui became the last surviving member of his family – or so he thought. He sets off on a journey to find a new home when he hears new kōkako birdsong… however it was a trick and he was captured instead! In time, under the protection of the people of Ngāti Tama in Taranaki, Tamanui finds a new family and the kōkako of the Moki Forest can continue to regenerate once more.

The first language of Te Waipounamu

Rock art is one of the oldest and most significant of the traditional arts, and considered by some an early form of written language: meaningful marks left for others to read. Some of those marks offer a glimpse of the world in the time of moa and pouākai (Haast’s eagle). Earlier that morning I’d witnessed a drawing of the giant eagle soaring across a cave roof at Frenchman’s Gully. In this landscape of hawks and falcons, it’s easy to imagine the artist looking up to see that vast shadow pass above.

Tangata Whenua
An Illustrated History

It charts the sweep of Māori history from ancient origins through to the twenty-first century and it has been called one of the most significant books on the Māori world ever written. Tangata Whenua: An Illustrated History by Atholl Anderson, Judith Binney and Aroha Harris is an ambitious book from Bridget Williams Books, 544 pages and…