A brilliant post from Maps .Reading the Maps: Pseudo-history at Dargy museum
Did you know that dargaville museum is promoting the line that there were people here before maori?
Did you know that they have a sacred pou presented on it's side thus abusing it's mauri and mana?
Did you know that they have not discussed this ancient pou or their bullshit explaination of it with local tangata whenua?
Did you know that they disrespect Ngai Tahu whanui by using the lines from that selfsyled loserguru brailford?
This is absolutely intolerable.
Send a complaint here - darg.museum@xtra.co.nz
here's my email to them
Kia ora
I have heard about your exhibit Pouto Ki Rongomaraeroa and the caption which states, “It is different in type and design to Maori carvings, reinforcing the theory that the Waitaha had different origins and a longer history in New Zealand than Maori.”
This is a complete and utter lie and should not be in any public institution. I whakapapa to Kai Tahu, Kati Mamoe and Waitaha, this grouping is known as Ngai Tahu whanui. You have insulted all Ngai Tahu whanui with your lies. And you have also insulted local tangata whenua by refusing to ask them for the truth. Why would you believe the lies of pakeha rather than the truth of maori – I think it is because you are racist and the only honourable action for you to take is to resign.
You are a disgrace and I will be emailing Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu to let them know about your insult to us.
marty mars
Footnote - this is the gist of my email to Anake Goodall CEO of Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu
"... I'd like to bring to your attention an insult to all Ngai Tahu. For years we have had the bogus histories of brailsford and his ilk compromise the mana of Ngai Tahu. ...another example in dargaville museum where our history is being slandered and our Tupuna insulted.
I think Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu should send a clear message that the abuse of 'Waitaha' will not be tolerated anymore and i would like the iwi to write, officially, to these people to tell them that they are insulting us by suggesting that Waitaha were here before maori..."
13 comments:
Good on you! This calls for action, and I hope some positive change will come of it. I grew up in Dargaville, and am disgraced by this backwardness. I have a feeling Hilliams, who is the prime mover in all of this, has destroyed archaeological and wahi tapu sites as well, though I have no proof. Please keep everyone posted.
Some of these new age Waitaha posers and chancers are pakeha (like Brailsford) and some are Ngai Tahu, like send me the money and i'll spin you a yarn Peter Ruka and some are just lost in the wilderness folks being used by either the Brailsfords, Ruka's or pakeha opponents of various resource consent applications.
I am more concerned about the last two than the first - BBrailsford has his own little mystical sect thing going and while they cause damage and are an ongoing issue at Kura Tawhiti they at least do not openly seek to undermine the iwi.
the good folks of Tuahiwi could tell more about Peter Ruka as could "infinity" the company responsible for the pegasuss development. after the company was sucked in to flying in elders from all over NZ to be hosted at a hotel and they talked a lot of emotional drivel and mystical hogwash Peter offered to help smooth the way of the company for lots of $$ a computer and a car. leaving the other waitaha participants with the happy memories of a weekend retreat.
and then more recently pakeha protest groups using local ngai tahu/waitaha folks in resource consent hearings - the decision in the Holcium case made it clear that the evidence they presented was not compelling or beleivable when challenged whereas the evidence put forward by the papatipu runanga was - recently, when there was not challenge to the sentimental mystical hogwash in the north bank tunnel case the evidence given under the guise of a pakaha environemental society banner left unchallenged was given credence
all this is brings authentic NT history and Maori histories into question.
so yes - protest the museum - but protest these other pretenders as well - and rail against those pakeha conservationists who can't make their case on those issues and so exploit our people in this way
ps
i am told that during the select committee hearings for the NT settlement there were Waitaha appearances at almost every stopping point and our people sat and watched as mainly north island maori (so called waitha kaumatua) gave evidence
the key thrust was that the secret knowlege of the waitaha peoples had been passed down the female lines for generations (and was thus unknown to NT men like Tipene)- fortuitously for them the time had become right to share this secret knowldge with a select number of men (from other iwi it seemed)just in time for these hearings - they of course could not share it with the select committee because it was too tapu
leading the charge in spinning this unbeleivable line was one Makere Harawira who claimed to be waitaha and very elequont and mystical she was too
anyway the last that was seen of those particular pretenders (which included some tv chap from "what now" fame) was in wellington when one of the Tuahiwi aunties asked why we (NT) and they (the select committee)why they were listening to "that pakeha woman" talking about NT whakapapa and histories and introducing north island maori men to speak about us - this challenge to her whakapapa was taken very seriously by the select committee as misleading such a committee is pretty damn serious
apparently the aunties knew Margaret Smith from her previous life and so it was not surprising that she never did try to prove she was waitaha and was never seen again
the same goes for most of that particular line of waitaha pretenders - however one thing remains true - when the acid is put on them they have no actual knowledge and so they only succeed if they are not challenged
Kia ora Marty
For more mis-information on Ngai Tahu check the wikipedia site which shows a representation of our boundaries which is different to our Act. We know others have made claims but only Ngai Tahu has a decision of the Maori Appellate Court supported 2x by the Privy Coucil and by two Acts of Parliament. What more to we have to do?
Kia ora Marty
To be quite honest, troubling though it is to see a museum taken in, it is more troubling to see the Waitangi Tribunal, Crown Law and Ministers of the Crown being sucked in by bogus unsubstantiated claims.
Of particular interest to Kai Tahu are the recognition of the non-existent iwi Ngati Apa ki te Waipounamu and the claims in the South Island of Ngati Toa whose leader Te Rauparaha was last seen fleeing before a Kai Tahu assault on his actual person.
I want to see the evidence that there is a single member of Ngati Apa who is not also a member of Kai Tahu Whanui and that all their claims are in fact Kai Tahu claims which the taxpayer has already forked out for. If it were not for the fact they are leaching off the mana of Kai Tahu and the impact such fraud will have on other iwi I would admire their audacious attack on the Crown's coffers.
All of the Ngati Apa who have been visible in the Tribunal etc have, until the time of the fisheries settlement, been proud to be Kai Tahu.
Don't get me wrong, there once was an iwi known as Ngati Apa but it ceased to function as such pre Treaty times. But the fisheries settlement breathed life into the idea and the concept of Ngati Apa has been fed and nourished by the Crown and TOKM and others ever since.
The credibility of Ngati Apa witnesses was tested before the Courts in the Maori Appellate Court and in the litigation which went to the Privy Council. It is worthy of note that Ngati Apa lost both time there was objective scrutiny. To be fair the case that went to the Privy Council was not about whether they existed or not, but whether the claims that they had no idea that the Kai Tahu claim would impact on Ngati Apa interests.
The Privy Council went to great lengths to show that the evidence of the Ngati Apa claimants could not be relied on when the facts were put forward.
Under the Ngati Apa approach Kai Tahu should bring Hawea and Rapuwai back to life and a further comprehensive settlement. No matter no other iwi thinks they still exist, or that they have no marae or that they have not acted as an iwi for some generations and they can not be distinguished from Kai Tahu - if we say they exist they must exist.
When the public eventually works this particular fraud out the confidence in the Settlement process will be further eroded. I thought National Governments would want to stand on principle and facts.
The Te Tau Ihu settlement would provide the non-existent Ngati Apa and the occasional visitor Ngati Toa the same levels of redress as the iwi who do hold and exercise manawhenua in the region. Even as between those iwi this is a farce.
We need to support manawhenua and our true histories. We should not support anyone, iwi, Crown, museums or the like to create these new fictions of our history.
Kia ora koutou anons
I agree with all that has been said and i thank you all for your contributions, your information, knowledge and thoughts. If anyone wants to do a guestpost send me an email.
Wow, very interesting anon(s). I suppose it might make sense that some groups are using such fraudulent claims to upset things. I certainly wouldn't put it past these nut jobs.
Im a few years too late, but hei aha :) Im Maori and i work in a museum so naturally Im interested in this kaupapa. I've never thought much of Barry Brailsfords work so Im happy to see someone from Kai Tahu challenge its worth. If your talking to the tangata whenua of these taonga and getting feedback on text this error is unlikely to happen. Obviously Dargaville are failing in their kaitiakitanga so best the tupuna pou is returned home :) mauri ora
Tena koutou
I am Tangata whenua from Pouto. Xmas 2015 was the first time I ever visited the Dargaville museum (@ 53 years). I was told not to take photos in the Maori arts section and thought that was a strange thing to say.
Hiowever, as soon as I got their my tupuna were all around me and when I saw the Pou I wept my body got goose bumps and at that stage I had no idea of the story behind her and soon researched online and thank you Marty for your info.
All I know is that if we took an artefact from the museums land it would be called stealing so I hope they do the right thing and get in touch with us and take her back where she needs to be at Home in Pouto, Waikaretu Marae.
Kia ora Marlene West.
Kia ora Marlene
thank you for your kōrero - very well said and it made my goosebumps come up too! Kia kaha for your journey and for all taonga to come home.
Kia ora Marty
Kiaora Marty,
I saw a video online, more about Waitaha. It seems quite interesting as the history of the Pou found in Pouto, had to have come from somewhere.
After watching this video, I felt that there has to be a link between Maori and Waitaha, and would undeniably be, because of the beauty of a women. Women are always the link, the only reason, us humans exist, but I feel one or some of our warriors who would have been so awesomely handsome to resist, made their roots back then, and fits the explanation of why some of our whanau were very fair, yet came from Maori bloodlines, on both sides. These interactions undoubtedly, would have been in secret, due to the unknown of who and where they came from.
I can't discredit any historian, and know how our iwi feel about the evidence of the Pou found in the dunes.
To me it's quite exciting, but there is a sad story we have in our whanau, it could and may not relate. Our whanau are from Pouto, and one of our Nannies was believed to have died at a young age, to which my Grandfather had found out when he came back from the First World War. My Grandfather and his siblings were raised by their grandparents as their parents died young.
To cut a long story short, he found his sister about 70 years later in Whangarei hospital before she passed on. As the story goes, she was sent away from Pouto to the north and was raised up there. She was fair, blue eyed and reddish hair, with Maori heritage.
It was almost like there was a fear of the myth of the fairy people. Whatever the story, I'm sure there are people out there who do know more.
I wish there is more, and still the Pou taonga does not deserve to be laying where she is at the moment.
I applaud you Marty and at the same time I am amazed at how historians find these precious taonga. The information is only what we make of it, as history is always changed to suit, until the real facts come along.
Kiaora Marty
Hi Marty, here's the link for the video.
New Zealand Skeletons in the Cupboard Episode 1. The Red Heads
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z6PlYiQSTs&sns=fb
Interesting.
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