The need to know stories....

THEY NEED TO KNOW...

“Our kids (Maori, Pakeha and other) must be fed the stories of their heroes,” Haare Williams who believes in the power of storytelling, grew up on the remote Ohiwa Harbour surrounded by the spoken word and legendary heroes that shaped his early childhood. 

The spoken word represents a certain truth in my life.  I grew up with a love of language.  Grandmother, Wairemana told stories incessantly. I called them ‘Nanny Stories’, which left a big impact on my life and career(s).  So, why are they important for our kids? 

Rimaha and Wairemana lived with the natural laws of nature yet totally at home in Te Ao Maori – the Maori world view.  They lived it. 

Rimaha spent lifetime learning about this connectedness through observation, imitation, enrichment and perspective.  To say that they knew nothing of physics or metaphysics is to misjudge them. They lived by the principles of nature in tandem with a Maori world view.  

“A joyous movement,” Pukepoto school children listen to the story of their taonga Tangone (Kaitaia Lintel) back home from The Auckland Museum 2012



"A joyous movement" Pukepoto School children
listen to the story of their taona Tangone (Kaitaia Lintel)
back home from the Auckland Museum 2012

Rimaha learned and taught how to effectively deal with natural symbols as he sought certain powers to activate them in ancient karakia. I was brought up in a remote valley on large chunks of myths, legends and narratives of recent heroes (whakapapa).

In the language of myth, Maui appears as a trickster hero, the prototype who appears in myths around the world.  As the Greeks alluded to and quoted Homer in literature, art, philosophy and religion and thereby founded their education on him.  Maori would seem to have lived for perhaps longer with the stories of Maui always present. As a formative cultural icon. Maui is therefore our Hercules (heel), Heracles (stripped of immortality), or Prometheus (fire). Maui controls fire, is the founder of the useful arts, invented the useful barbed hooks, fished up the land, founded the strongest kinds of ropes and nets that slowed the sun and so we boast that Maori gave us day-light saving, 

Maui defied the conventions of social cohesion and stepped outside the prescribed boundaries of tikanga. He was potitki and was allowed to be haututu (wilfully naughty, inventive) or be on the wild side a bit. But once he heard of Hine-Nui-Te Po (death), he was avowed to challenge her.  By doing so, he challenges nature therefore dies as a consequence.

A myth or a legend as in the case of Maui is a sacred tale about the past in a non-rational way to justify actions of the present.  Creation stories are about the remote past; unfortunately the words 'myths' and 'legends', in English anyway, have accreted the meaning of mere ‘faerie tales’, or stories without substance.

Stories about ancient and recent heroes are held as Taonga (tribal heirlooms) that move seamlessly between the past and the present. They bring the living and the dead together in a holistic way.  Whakapapa is one way of validating ones access to the world of tribal heroes linking to the genesis of atua (gods), to Ranginui (Sky), Papatuanuku (Earth) and Hine-Nui-Te Po (death).  Our kids need to see these as tools to access and express reverence for nature, land, ancestors, other people and for themselves.

Heroes who dwell in the supernatural world were followed by legendary heroes in Maui, Tawhaki, Rata and Kupe down to heroes who navigated uncharted waters to arrive and settle in different parts of Aotearoa New Zealand as early as the 9C. There is no doubt that New Zealand has a literary heritage like no other on the planet.

And heroes don’t live forever.  But those who live in the pages of ancient and recent history do.  All peoples have gods and goddesses, heroes and cowards, aristocrats and psychopaths, and poets and fools. They appear in every cultural tradition. So where do we start?  Kids – start with your names.  Allow your name to be a part of your story, weave your story around it.  Knowing your story is a statement of rebirth of the ancestors in you.  When you hear these stories, you begin to accept “Hmmm - I’m better than I thought I was."

Our kids need to know that each lash of colonisation left grand-parents and great grand-parents more damaged, more derailed, and happiness more illusory. They lost heavily with the Crown’s expropriation policies; a fiat by successive governments which meant that Maori were left with broken dreams.  Our kids need to know, that is not what the treaty promised. Stories are testimonies, if needed to validate tino rangatiratanga (tribal identity, authority) and mana (chiefly charisma).  Stories can also build belief which builds a strong sense to belong, to learn, to succeed, to grow and to change.  Belief, “... there is nothing I cannot do, I can be a ninja- thoracic-cardio vascular surgeon-poet laureate ...or all of these.  I can change my hard-drive anytime. 

They need to know what happened to the causalities of war; that the first casualty of war is truth itself. They need to know that truth speaks loudly, as on Sunday 21 February 1864, while the people were in worship at the Rangiaowhia Catholic Church, in Waikato The Forest Rangers of the 65th Regiment led by Colonel George Nixon mounted a bloody attack where riffle fire pinned down the congregation inside the church and set alight. The military had delivered a crushing victory on women, children and elderly. 

There is evidence to show a growing interest amongst our rangatahi, Maori and Pakeha for spiritual awareness, one that isn't bound to any religious dogma nor from any sectarian perspective.  We owe it to all our kids in New Zealand Aotearoa.  To do less is to betray them. I want them to know that Kupe wasn’t put off by unknown waters, Edmund HIllary wasn't deterred by the mountains beyond Everest, nor did John Walker let go of his impossible dream.’

Was not The Word, the Story weapons in the pages of The Bible?  That is power in stories. 

Ihumatao Hikoi

I Te Timatanga                                      (in the beginning)

Ko Te Kore                                             (Only an emptiness)

Ko Te Ahunga                                        (A stirring, movement)

Ko Te Apunga                                        (a desire gathering)

Ko Te Kune Iti                                        (the smallest  filling out)

Ko te Kune rahi                                      (increasing, swelling, thoughts)

Ko Te Po Po Kumao                              (the Night  fading into light)

Ko Te Po Nui                                          (The Great Night)

Ko Te Atatu                                             (The Pre-dawn)

Ko Te Ao                                                 (Tis increasing light)

Ko Te Whitinga mai o Te Ra                   (The burst of day)

Hi aha ha!                                                (Ah tis the world in light)

OTUATAUA – ATUATAUA

“He taonga ngarongaro atu ka whawhai tonuti kia hoki tonu mai ano.”

 “I acknowledge you Te Kawera a Maki for your patience for the sustained work you have put into your claim of this whenua and area over many years.”                          (Chris Findlayson Minister Makaurau Marae 22/02/14)

Last Saturday iwi members of Tainui’s Kawerau-a-Maki heard the Minister, in the presence of King Tuheitia and about 200 tribal members make this declaration on the Ihumatao Marae in Mangere. Sustained work, yes going back into the 1860s and continued in recent decades.  Local tribes got their first chance to put their claims before the Waitangi Tribunal on Ihumatao Marae on 8 October 1986. 

Four years ago, I sat with Mavis Roberts, kuia of Te Ahiwaru, her son Saul and nephew Jim in her humble home under the lengthening shadow of the airport runway expansion.   She looked out her kitchen window across her tiny section, “One day, these fields will come back to us as kaitiaki.” That was in November 2010.  She remembers attending the first Waitangi Tribunal of thirty years ago when her people presented evidence on her marae across the road, Mavis gave her testimonies before The Waitangi Tribunal as did others who have now long gone. Sir Apirana Ngata in the Stout government in 1926 produced a Royal Commission Report.

“The Natives were treated as rebels and war declared against them before they had engaged in rebellion of any kind and in the circumstances they had no alternative but to fight in self defence.  In their eyes, the fight was not against the Queen’s sovereignty, but a struggle for house and home ...”.

                                                           (The Hon Sir William Sim, Royal Commission Report, 1926)

“The struggle for our kids continues”, Mavis Roberts whose home and marae slapped against the airport expansion. For her, and whanau, “This development on ‘our lands’ is not merely a commercial thing, but a monster without a heart; it is a cash till for multinationals to building boxes upon boxes”. For the land is, “He pūmanawa! A heartbeat! Heart of tupuna.” 

Saul tells me, “The old name for those stones is Atuataua – The warriors of the gods. They are kaitiaki since our landing here. Aucklanders turned their backs on this space in the 1960s when sewage ponds were sited next to us here, “Though in a funny sort of way that has protected the area from going the same way as other parts of Auckland.” 

The stone walls are evidence of a once thriving industry built around survival; every stone moved with bare hands. The warmth trapped in mounds provided the hothouses to propagate seeds and seedlings for the seasonal planting. This sublime rural landscape is as old as human habitation possibly as early as the ninth century. The Otuataua Stone Fields is testimony to the resourcefulness of the early inhabitant to use stone-walls to trap the heat in the walls of their houses and stone mounds. In their storage pits the stones provided a way to preserve food stocks such as kumara, taro and in later years, potatoes. Evidence of Pakeha settlement here in the 1800s also abound; reminders of the Ellett, Rennie, Wallace, Mendelssohn, Nixon and Montgomerie families.

The Ōtuataua Stone Fields were secured as a reserve in 1989 by The Manukau City Council, in Sir Barry Curtis’ words; “To honour the history of the land and the people who built their homes and raised the families here over the past 800 years.”

And as for her dream Mavis and whanau want to see lands come back, but the second runway for the airport put stop to that gobbling up remnants of whanau and tribal lands, “Going, going ...  “.  So, what happened, I asked?  What happened is well documented in the evidence put before The Waitangi Tribunal in 1986, “It’s all there.” Saul tells me.

“...there were several Maori villages near Auckland – Mangere, Pukaki, Ihumatao, and others – inhabited by relations of the Waikato tribes. A large proportion of these people were old and infirm. Yet our arrangements for governing native settlements, even close to our own doors were so defensive that instant war broke out (though we had ten thousand men in the field), to allow these people to remain in their homes.  Twenty Maori policemen could have quelled the whole of them even in actual revolt, but the government had not a single Maori policeman on whose obedience they could depend.  It was therefore resolved to drive these poor men and women and their children from their homes and confiscate their lands. There was no difficulty in finding a pretext.  They were Maoris and relatives of Potatau...”.

                                                             (The Hon Sir William Sim, Royal Commission Report, 1926)

In its closing report The Waitangi Tribunal summed up:

 “… its governors and officials acted with ruthless pragmatism that sidelined the treaty and deliberately advantaged settlers over Maori, and its purchases left Te Ahiwaru, Te Aki Tai and Ngati Te Ata in poverty.”  (13 October 1986, Ihumatao Marae)

 “Ka mamae tonu ....  each time I open my back door, I see the shadow of a monster getting bigger and bigger possession without end.”  And so despite a Royal Commission and a tribunal hearing, there is still a long list of lies and betrayals for Mavis and her people.  Will it ever end?  Mavis is optimistic.  “It’s never too late to start again; the heartbeat breathes on in us.”  Tukuroirangi Morgan in reply to minister Findlayson said, 

“...  Minister this is not an end only a start of an enduring relationship as we move forward to work in a unified and collaborative way.  A solemn time for us and a nation.” 
                                    (Tukuroirangi Morgan, Tainui treaty settlements negotiator, Makaurau Marae, Ihumatao, 22/02/14))

Comment:  This kind of state and media hegemony meant that the people of this area, a peaceful people who time and again expressed cooperation with the state, loyalty to Victoria yet in a very short time became wards of the state.  The people of Tainui were are an ingenuous people who gave up land to build schools, churches, offered trade in other words they were excited to build a new nation.  But, as we watch the power struggle between iwi and state, we are today seeing positive and creative leadership in the mould of Tukuroirangi Morgan, Grant Hawke, Sonny Tau, Mark Solomon, Annette Sykes, Iri Tawhiwhirangi, Hanah O’Reagan and others who are paving a way for equality and peace in our blessed nation.  The Maori struggle will always be a peaceful struggle.  It is, as Ranginui Walker writes, “A Struggle Without End”.  You know, when you’re dispossessed of your culture, you become possessed by it – fight for it; maybe die for it as Tainui did at Rangiriri.

As morehu (survivor) Mavis watches helpless and sees her rights trampled underground. Immutable.  Alienating.  If you don’ have it; it becomes a taonga – a treasure to be remembered. The stone walls of Ihumatao have a special cultural space in Auckland. Will they go?  Otuataua can only survive where it is.  

Ae!  AND THAT IS WHY OUR CHILDREN MUST HEAR OUR STORY

Why Celebrate Waitangi

“Waitangi is arguably the most powerful national symbol we have,” says Haare Williams who has seen changes occur during our collective and separate hikoi to and from that holy shrine.” 

“It’s business as usual. Welcome to Waitangi 2014”, a remark by Te Tii Marae elder, Kingi Taurua when, as the governor general walked past, a smart in the crowd yelled, “Cut his head off!” 

The usual suspects were there.  Titewhai Harawira arm linked with John Key and later with David Cunliffe.  No leader was safe without the tempest of Te Tii Marae especially on the 6 February.

Waitangi Day is a time once more to remind us as a nation of the hikoi we have shared on the road to and from Waitangi; a road sometimes pocked with muddied potholes.  We celebrate how far we have come. Our country has changed more than most realise.  It’s not just about recognition of Maori rights. Maori culture is today beginning to influence mainstream society.   Maori words and phrases are used meaningfully in common discourse. The powhiri to welcome a new start or new staff is now a part of corporate life in New Zealand. 

We have the opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with our nation’s history.  Certainly a time to rejoice that we have endured one hundred and seventy-four years of trial, challenge, and change. 

At the core of our society are two fundamental cultures; Maori and Pakeha who between them are now forging a third culture, one which embraces the principle of two cultures; Maori as the first settlers (Tangata Whenua) and Pakeha as second (Tangata Tiriti), who between them are creating an emerging new ‘New Zealand culture’, in which both tikanga Maori and tikanga Pakeha are respected, accepted, and protected for their separate but complimentary values. This hybrid culture recognizes Maori values and British traditions as embodied in the promise of Te Tiriti o Waitangi-The Treaty of Waitangi but flexible enough to allow later cultures such as Pacifica and other strands as we develop the increasingly rich diversity of a multicultural New Zealand. Now that’s something we can all celebrate.

Today we see signs to celebrate indications for me anyway, that reconciliation and forgiveness can occur and that in the work of the Waitangi Tribunal we can reconcile differences and pave the way for healing wounds, and past recriminations.

A cloudless, blisteringly hot day, Waitangi 6 February 1840. Some five hundred people are gathered before the British resident’s House. Royal Navy ship The Herald riding a swell ….   waka taua too … Hobson is escorted ashore.

Another cloudless, blue, blisteringly hot day, Waitangi 6 1990. The RNZN Ship The Canterbury riding a swell … waka taua … HM Queen Elizabeth II is escorted ashore …

One of the most moving statements about what the Treaty of Waitangi mean for Maori and for New Zealand came out of Waitangi in 1990.  The Anglican Bishop of Aotearoa, Rt Rev Whakahuihui Vercoe made a short speech which was directed at the Queen who was present with government members.  He began with psalm 137, with ‘Waitangi’ replacing ‘Babylon’ of the original:

I te taha o nga wai o Waitangi, noho ana tatau i reira

A, e tangi ana tatau kia mahara ki a Hiro

When he stepped up, the level of protest went up too,“… and so I come to the waters of Waitangi to weep for what could have been a unique document in the history of indigenous people against Pakeha domination and I still have the hope that we can do it.  Let us sit and listen to one another.  Some of us come here to celebrate, some to commemorate, some come to commiserate, but some to remember what (pause) … our tipuna said on this ground: that the treaty was a compact between two people.  But since the signing, I want to remind our partners that you have marginalised us.  You have not honoured the treaty.  We have not honoured each other in the promises made.  Vercoe spoke with utter sincerity, conviction and humanity.  The content of the speech was unexpected.  At the end of the speech there was utter silence, the ultimate tribute by the protestors for Vercoe with varying emotions apparent on those present.  For some it was a reminder to understand the past and to meet the obligations set out in the treaty, while others were aghast that, yet again the ceremony at Waitangi had been politicised, at least as they saw it in the presence of the Queen. At the end of the speech, Te Aupouri kuia Sana Murray stood, clapped and sang everyone joined as one with, “By the waters of Babylon …”

How can we sing the songs of the Lord
while in a foreign land?

If I forget you, Jerusalem
   

We are today forging a richer nation as we continue the Hikoi to and from Waitangi.  Haere mai e hoa ma.