coming alive

Good news that the Takiroa Māori Rock Art Site will reopen soon. Heavy rains had made the area unsafe and remedial work is being done to upgrade the paths and viewing points. This will open up the taonga to visitors - which is important - these taonga are an essential part of our shared history and by learning from Ngāi Tahu the context around them, we honour our tupuna, Ngāi Tahu and all peoples. Some scaling of the rockface is needed and the Otago Section of the NZ Alpine Club have done the job for free, just asking for a talk on the Rock Art sites for their mahi. That is the way to do it - when all parties are respected, great things happen.


The whole area is coming alive

Timaru Herald

Also becoming more accessible later in the year will be Maori rock art sites at Craigmore and Totara Valley. Te Ana, the Ngai Tahu Rock Art Centre in Timaru, plans to start scheduled tours to the two areas later this year. It has leased an eight-hectare site in Totara Valley to gain access to one of the most significant rock drawings, the giant taniwha. The area will be placed under a QEII covenant that protects vulnerable natural features or habitats.

Timaru Herald

A four-day festival featuring South Canterbury's Maori rock art and highlighting Ngai Tahu heritage, is being planned with the help of $50,000 from a special Rugby World Cup festival fund. In announcing the grant, the New Zealand Lotteries Festival Fund said the four-day festival would celebrate southern heritage, culture and creativity, with a programme centred around the theme of Maori Rock Art. It is designed to highlight Ngai Tahu heritage and the stories told through previous Maori rock art taonga.

Now this is fantastic and I take my hat off to the innovative thinkers who thought this festival up. The connections are everything - the stories, the histories, the legends, the knowledge. By respecting Ngāi Tahutanga all people are connected. Thank you to all involved.

A wonderful post on the taonga here at Introducing Maori Lifestyles

Essential to all

Great news that Te Ana Ngai Tahu's Rock Art Centre in Timaru has just opened. This is so good for everyone. The taonga are respected and treasured and guests can visit, the community are involved and it is bringing all people together. This is the way to do it .

From The Timaru Herald

After years of planning, Te Ana Ngai Tahu's Rock Art Centre has had an emotional opening.

About 200 people gathered for a chance to celebrate the opening ceremony in Timaru yesterday.

 The centre is hugely significant for Ngai Tahu," Mr Solomon said.

"It is the culmination of years of hard work and devotion to protecting and preserving this important cultural and historical taonga for the iwi and now we have the perfect showcase for sharing it with the world."

One look was not enough for locals Tewera King and Koriana Waller, who said they were not the only ones popping back for another look.

"It's our taonga. Not all of us have been out to see the rock art. For a person who knows nothing about the local iwi, it's all there," Mrs Waller said.

"It's just an awesome resource for the local community and our visitors to learn about taonga and resources."

Not only did the centre present the rock art, but it also showed other practices in the area such as eeling and collecting kai. "I thought it was just the rock art, but there's more in there."

Mr King said the centre was brilliant and had a good balance of information and activities.

I can't wait to visit the center. Congratulations to Gerard and the team for this kaupapa. The centre is open to all and that is the way it is done.

Taonga returned

Great news that this taonga māori rock art has been returned home. I have posted about the taonga of the māori rock art here and here and it is great that Te Ana, the Ngāi Tahu Māori Rock Art Centre is opening in December.

From Katarina Filipe Timaru Herald

"After nearly 100 years, 12 pieces of art were welcomed back to Waihao Marae with a powhiri yesterday, attended by representatives from Waihao, Arowhenua and Moeraki runanga.

The drawings were removed from sites in the Aoraki area in 1916 by American antiquarian James Lee Elmore and have since been housed in museum collections around the country and overseas.

How do the people feel?

Wendy Heath, kaikaranga of the tangata whenua, said the return of the art was "huge".

"They mean so much to us. They were done by our tupuna, they're our link to our tupuna in that sense. It's just so heartwarming.

"[The centre is] going to be brilliant for Timaru and South Canterbury as a whole. Us sharing our treasures with people will give them a better understanding of who we are."

Good effort from all concerned. Visiting these taonga will be a essential for anyone coming through Timaru and that is awesome because each of these visitors, whether from here or somewhere else, will get an introduction to Ngāi Tahu whanui. Eco-cultural tourism, where context is given to create connection, is what visitors want - they want to understand and interact.

rockfall misses rockart

The power of water. After the big rain came the rockfall and luckily the rockfall did not destroy our maori rock art.

From ODT

"Rare examples of Maori art have survived the dramatic collapse of a rock outcrop at the Takiroa rock art site, near Duntroon in North Otago.

It was a major landscape feature and an "amazing" site in terms of the rock art and the historical context it provided.

Many different styles and techniques had been used at the site and the wealth of red figures made it quite unusual.

The site was the first recorded instance of Maori rock art, noted in 1852 by the surveyor Walter Mantell.

The first photograph of rock art was taken there in 1896.

Some rock art pieces were removed from the site in 1916."

and

"When contacted yesterday, Ngai Tahu Maori Rock Art Trust curator Amanda Symon said someone had to be located to do the assessment and funding obtained as it would be "not a cheap task".

It was hoped to have that done within two or three weeks."

Money money money if we must have money let's use it for this type of mahi.

Is our rock art treated like the taonga and treasure that it is?

german tourist desecrates Maori Rock Art

German tourist desecrating Maori Rock Art

Source Timaru Herald

So breaking into protective enclosures and desecrating maori rock art is just a big joke is it german tourist? You know, I'd rather not have any tourists here if they are going to do that.

From the Timaru Herald

"Ngai Tahu is outraged that a German tourist has broken into a steel cage protecting ancient Maori rock wall paintings and then boasted about it online.

Pictures have appeared online of a German tourist breaking into the Maerewhenua Maori rock art site near Duntroon.

The woman is pictured climbing past the protective netting around the rock drawings and then inside the site.

Ngai Tahu Maori Rock Art Trust curator Amanda Symon was outraged.

"The rocks are caged for a reason.

"They have come here and desecrated one of our heritage sites. It is just completely thoughtless to squeeze in there.

"She is brushing past a rock drawing so there is huge potential to do damage."

Young and dumb is no excuse. The rock art is caged for a reason - why is this any different from having a poo in the sistine chapel. That tourist will now reap the reaction to her very poor judgement.

Footnote - More from the Timaru Herald

from comments on the webpage - thanks Mike

"I'm sorry for bending a piece of metal"

"Well, we are some people who first of all never damaged anything, which wouldn't have been damaged before by hammering metal into an ancient rock, but that's another issue.

Yes - called irrelevant. Accept responsibility - you did it and you can't justify it because it was already damaged - it was and that was why protective fencing was in place.

"When we came there, there were several writings [graffiti] already written on the site. And no I don't agree with writing on ancient sites, seriously I would be the last person.

"So we were standing there, trying to figure out which one of the ancient drawings was really ancient and which ones weren't. It was basically impossible to tell and there was the temptation of the fact that somebody must have managed to get into a well secured place.

Whilst i think this tourist is actually being more insulting here, I'm going to let that go because it is a good point we need interpretation to help these people work out the context of this Rock Art - Runaka members would be the place to start.

"So we started wondering how hard can it be to go in there. It was more the fascination of solving a riddle than to actually get a prize for it. It wasn't hard after all."

Yes big olympic gold for you - what a hero.

"That was all. We solved the riddle, got in, took a picture that it is possible to trick your own kind, didn't touch a thing, went out again and left the place exactly how it was before."

Well it wasn't exactly the same was it? Keep fooling yourself.

"She then goes on to say the metal was bent back to its original position.

"Do me a favour and worry about things that really matter, things you have an influence in. Did you hug your kids today? Do you know if they smoke?"

Accept responsibility - you came here and accepted our hospitality.

Don't come back here german tourist, please, we really don't want or need people like you and your mates around.

Ancient Rock Art - protect it here and over there

nine mile canyon

Protecting the past - for the future.

We have our Maori Rock Art here and there is also many examples of indigenous rock art being protected in other countries.

"Parts of a remote central Utah canyon decorated with ancient Indian art are being nominated for the National Register of Historic Places.

The Bureau of Land Management this week nominated 63 sites along Nine Mile Canyon, which some call the world's longest art gallery. It contains more than 10,000 prehistoric rock carvings and paintings of bighorn sheep, owls, a two-headed snake, spear-wielding hunters and warriors engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

In the coming years, the BLM in Utah plans to nominate more than 800 sites in the canyon for the national register, according to Megan Crandall, an agency spokeswoman in Salt Lake City. She said it's the largest such attempt for archaeological sites in Utah."

But as is often the case things are complicated.

"The BLM is about to launch another indepth study on the nearby West Tavaputs Plateau. The agency has been considering a proposal that would allow about 800 more natural gas wells in the area and increase truck traffic on the narrow, 78-mile road that snakes through the sandstone and shale canyon.

Conservationists worry the extra truck traffic would kick up dust in the canyon and jeopardize the irreplaceable rock art."

"The canyon's drawings and carvings, easily spotted today from the unpaved road, have been a source of fascination and speculation since their discovery in the late 1800s. Some of the art is believed to be the work of the mysterious Fremont people, who lived in present-day Utah, Idaho, Colorado and Nevada from 700 to 1300 A.D.

Other inscriptions in the canyon's walls are from the Ute Indians, early explorers and members of the U.S 9th Cavalry.

The first batch nominated for the national register includes 19 rock art sites, 40 that include evidence of people living and working during the Fremont period and four sites with homesteads and cabins from the late 1800s and early 1900s. All the proposed properties are on BLM land."

Yes this rock art is under threat from natural gas exploration and miners and so on. What would happen if brownlee found gold under some of our rock art? Perhaps an audit of the rock art would be the best place to start - we don't even know where it all is.

Rock Art is our Taonga - TRONT let's get serious about protecting it

Good news that the Rock Art is getting some resources.

"Timaru District Holdings will invest in the Ngai Tahu Maori Rock Art Centre planned for Timaru, because of the positive impact it will have on the district's economy. "

This is what happens when others get involved - it becomes all about money - so embarrasing and shameful. It's not about money it is about the sacred taonga.

"Timaru district councillors approved the investment of $280,000 in Te Ana Whakairo, the company set up to build and run the rock art centre in the Timaru Landing Service Building.

It needs a further $800,000, with an application for $650,000 to be made to the Lotteries Commission's significant community projects fund, Ngai Tahu Maori Rock Art Charitable Trust curator Amanda Symon said yesterday. It will be March before it is known if the application has been successful. The outcome of funding applications for a further $200,000 should be known this month.

Shameful that the good people have to beg for money when Ngai Tahu have over 500 million - whose taonga is it?

Financial support for the project has come from various sources, including $400,000 from Ngai Tahu's contestable fund for cultural projects, $280,000 from South Canterbury Charities (now Trust Aoraki), $185,000 from Te Puni Kokiri, $100,000 from the Southern Trust and $200,000 from the Lotteries Commission's environmental and heritage fund. "

So all good news, isn't it?

If Ngai Tahu can't resource and look after our own taonga - what is the point? TRONT have the images on the front page of the website - what will it take to give this area the mana and importance it rightly deserves? Yes it is good that the Ngai Tahu Fund has given money but the funding for the protection of this should be part of the major funding not contestable. Are we really going to take money from anywhere and everywhere to create this resource for our people?

This is our taonga first and then the countries, not the other way around. Many times i have heard the call, "Let government look after their bits and Ngai Tahu will look after theirs." The Rock Art is ours. It is time to honour our ancestors and honour the taonga they left us as signposts for now and the future.

Take control and front up - TRONT give some money and resources to our sacred taonga - what are you waiting for?

What is more important?

What are you waiting for?

What is more important?

What are you waiting for?

maori sacred sites desecrated here too - just like over there

They fight them there, we must fight them here.

"Indians living in the vast Mojave Desert are increasingly vexing what they say are an onslaught of “Indiana Jones” types and lawless recreationists that are disturbing, damaging and even vandalizing sacred sites and breaching reservations. The 25,000-square-mile desert is the traditional home to half a dozen Indian tribes along the lower Colorado River that straddles the state lines of California, Arizona and Nevada."

Indians say vandals, increasingly directed by Web sites and books, litter the sensitive sites with beer bottles and evidence of made up rituals. Off road vehicles leave a trail of destruction with tire marks across ancient geoglyphs and breach reservations."

And when they talk to the people, what do they say?

"Randy Luden scaled a mountain of boulders etched with dozens of petroglyphs that could be thousands of years old, hoping to get as close as possible to the records of a past civilization. The Las Vegas man didn’t think he was damaging the representations made by descendants of Mojave Indians because he was careful and wore soft shoes.

That was of no consolation to two Mojaves watching from afar.

“Oh no; he shouldn’t be doing that,” said Paul Jackson Jr., a tribal artist for the Fort Mojave Reservation.

As Luden approached the Indians, Linda Otero, a Fort Mojave council woman, told him he shouldn’t have climbed on top of the glyphs because they were holy.

Gilbert Leivas, of the Chemehuevi Tribe, stands in front of geoglyphs Indians consider sacred and explains how off road vehicles come dangerously close to the site. Satellite images show tire tracks running across the glyphs.

“But how else am I going to get the full interpretation,” Luden responded."

"Otero, in so many words, said he couldn’t.

“Treat them as you would other ancient sites in Europe. You just can’t go in their hall or records and touch their scrolls. They have guards and fences to block you, they are protected.”

Now we also have sacred sites here in this country. These sites are barely protected even though they are taonga.

brailsford and his mates walk all over our sacred trails, desecrating these pathways with their bogus views, insane rituals, excretement and litter.

How long before maori say enough is enough. You just can't treat our sacred sites like this. We won't allow it. How long before we stand up for our ancestors and say, "We draw the line here!" "No more, no further, NO!

Perhaps the last word should be:

"The damage, whether blatant desecration or unintentional, is hindering Indian spiritually. Cara McCoy, of the Chemehuevi Tribe, recently went to a sacred site and found it so littered she couldn’t take off her shoes to properly pay respect. It also threatens the education of the young ones into tradition, leaving Indians questions about the future that could only be answered with their historical references.

“We are still fighting Indian wars here,” said Jackson, the Mojave artist, as he stood on a sacred site, looking down a stretch of river filled with rowdy boat recreationists."

How to fix Ngai Tahu Tourism

Ngai Tahu Tourism.

I don't know about you but for me when I think of Ngai Tahu Tourism i don't think of a group of tourism businesses owned by Ngai Tahu, i think of tourism businesses related to Ngai Tahu.

Within this nest we have a range of tourism businesses with no connection to Ngai Tahu, other than we own them. i think that is wrong and needs fixing, and here are my ideas.

Firstly, there is nothing wrong with the current structure but let's change the name so that there is no confusion about what this nest of businesses is and what they aren't.

Secondly, have we really thought about what Ngai Tahu tourism could actually be? I have posted a few of my views and they relate to engaging with papatipu runaka at the local level. Creating iconic Ngai Tahu businesses where we can show visitors and our own people our stories of our land. We have so much to tell.

I have taken many tourists out for 6.5 hours in a bus, around iconic natural beauty and what those tourists said to me is that they want to hear the stories, they want to engage and they want context. It's our job to create the opportunities to do that.

Perhaps one way is to get serious about the cycleway. We could create small part journeys along the cycleway where we are able to build context for visitors around where they are and what they are seeing. it could be simple pou, or it could be a personal guide. the key is we create it, manage it and own it. We should be the ones telling our stories.

No one person can come up with the best way forward so why not ask our people what they think we could do? Would a pounamu trail work? The rock art sits there deterorating, perhaps we could show visitors these taonga. We have coast, we have valleys... we have every ecology and environment that is possible to describe and show visitors. And they will be interested. Ecocultural tourism is what people want.

But before we do all that we have to stop kidding ourselves that 'shotover jet' or the 'kiwi house' in te ika a maui are part of Ngai Tahu tourism. they aren't, they just happen to be businesses owned by Ngai Tahu to generate profit.

It is over 10 years since settlement and now is the time to reassess some of the structures that have been put in place. Do these structures help or hinder us? Do we have the courage to say that we want it a certain way; our way, rather than just accept what our pakeha overlords tell us.

Ngai Tahu Tourism should be about Ngai Tahu.

Footnote: I've just been and had a look at the shotover jet website. Ngai Tahu don't even get a mention, except here, see if you can find it! What the hell is going on. When our own companies don't give us due recognition - bloody hell I'm not saying they need a mihi or anything just an acknowledgement of how bloody lucky they are to be owned by tangata whenua.

Ngai Tahu Rock Art needs protection now!

Why not spend a fraction of the $50 million to support the Ngai Tahu Maori Rock Art Trust.

We are the kaitiaki of this most precious taonga. We must support the efforts to protect and empower the local runaka and the Trust so that we have no more loss - loss that can never come back.

What could be done? We know that over 500 rock art sites have been recorded by SIMRAP, only a small fraction of these are being actively protected and managed. That is discraceful!

Immediately all recorded sites should be bought into a management plan. The plan could include employment opportunities for young Ngai Tahu. Ecocultural tourism and culturally sensitive tours for guests/tourists run by Ngai Tahu for Ngai Tahu. Managed and run at the runaka level.

Many iwi members have never seen or been close to their sacred taonga, left for them by their ancestors. They would be honoured to be allowed to. All parties win, the heroes who keep the home fires burning and those coming back, humbly, heroes too, to learn and reconnect with their rightful histories.

This Trust still has to seek sponsorship - whats wrong with sponsoring our own?

Seriously, what possible reason could there be for this neglect.

If we have to buy all the land they are on, who cares, make them offers they can't refuse = that's what $50 million is for.

The key is speed. Each day more and more slips away. Push this up the agenda. Make it a priority. Get off your hands and stop thinking like pakehas - the money isn't the issue!