UNDER EVERY ROCK A STORY
He aha te hau e wawara mai
He raki nana i a mai te pupu-tarakihi ki uta
I tu ai te pou whakairo ki Waitemata
What is this wind that disturbs me tis The North Wind
That brings good and bad to Waitemata
Ah, my vision
(Titahi's prophesy)
Ngati Whatua kaumatua Te Puna Danny Tumahai once told us, "... protect the past by preserving the best of the present to guide the future."
Centuries old stories abound everywhere we look; on the summits of mountains, waterways and headlands, and under every rock along and in the habour, each weaving a tapestry that hold meaning.
My advice, unlock that wealth of information by working with place names across Tamaki Makaurau-Auckland. It isn't surprising that Aucklanders know little or are indifferent to the richness that can be readily grasped around the isthmus. For a start, names are like pneumonic reminders that recall precise details of family and tribal whakapapa (genealogical histories). They are like road signs that show us where we have been and where we are going.
There is so much value in the work of local iwi of Ngati Whatua, Tainui and Ngati Paoa to reclaim and preserve old names that could easily have become obsolete through lack of usage or understanding. Auckland possesses a rich heritage that can easily be untapped. To do less is to betray generations to come. Te Reo is slowly regaining a former life, so I therefore commend place names as a starting point for the learner. These names are not vestiges of the past but each throbs with the vibrancy of a heart.
This knowledge would open up another world for Aucklanders if they could hear and know about Te Pane-o-Horowai (St Helliers), Mataaho (volcano deity), Te Hororoa (Pt Britomart), or Te Ara Whakatekateka a Ruarangi (Meola Reef), now how about the green-eyed fish of Poutini that came to Waitemata, names that echo of our origins.
Kupe was our earliest known ocean going navigator who left many names that defined our coast-line that became critical signs for the navigators who followed in his wake. Kupe took back with him the prized greenstone. This important find was quickly identified as Poutini the spiritual home of pounamu along the Arahura River. Maps came later, much later with Abel Tasman, James Cook and Marion du Fresne.
Early waka sailors followed the stars, whales and birds yes, but they also followed 'sign posts' along the coastline, mountains and rivers adding their own narratives to an overlay of stories. Sailings to Aotearoa were no mere accident. These were planned over generations of aggregated knowledge, skills, experience and sheer guts and intuition; prodigious journeys of the mind, spirit and body.
This week Aucklanders were welcomed aboard The Sarah Gifford, a restored flat-bottom scow for a trip around Waitemata to experience something of the richness of Maori place names and the Maori language.
A short welcome, a karakia, mihi and a waiata, then the two names our city: Tamaki Makaurau (place of many lovers) and Auckland (Lord Auckland). Two stories that resonated with manuhiri (guests) were, 'Patupaearehe and The Harbour Bridge', and the other, 'Mataaho-the fiery keeper of volcanoes'.
What our guests experienced during two sailings was the richness of both languages, English and Maori in stories so redolent with episodes of our city's ancient and recent past.
Names therefore carry knowledge and power in the spoken word. The speaker (male or female) used the mana of a living taonga (heirloom). The spoken word is held sacred because through it the wisdom of the ancestors is presented and communicated and made objective in our world. A single word or name is there for the transfer of knowledge.
Tamaki Makaurau, Nga Tapuwae, Ihumatao, Te Pane-o-Horowai, Te Hororoa, Rangitoto, Toangaroa, Pukekawa, Motu Tapu and so on around a glistening harbour to Te Ara Whakatekateka-a-Ruarangi.
Our guests had fun spotting and matching names to the landscape and by weaving these lyrical and poetic names around their tongues and having a laugh doing it together.
Maori Language Week when it closed on Sunday should not stop there. I commend the taonga of language to you. Haere mai ki Tamaki Makaurau.
A nation that understands and accepts its holiness, is a nation blessed.
Haare Williams 9 July 2013