No, no, and no again

Sorry but this is a difficult story - a story of loss, of disrespect, of money and of our current state of affairs. It does finish on a slightly positive note though

NZH

A protest campaign has erupted against a Fletchers proposal to build up to 480 homes near Auckland Airport on land that includes lava caves that were used as Maori burial sites for generations.
The 32ha site valued at $11.85 million has been designated a special housing area, which means the project is likely to be notified only to adjacent landowners.

Now we know that this government and especially nick smith and paula bennett are in trouble because of their inaction to our homeless and their uncaring attitude to those trying to help. So smith has made special housing areas.

About 100 people attended a protest meeting on Wednesday night called by a group of young cousins at the nearby Makaurau Marae, the ancestral home of the Te Waiohua people who gave Auckland its original name of Tamaki Makaurau.
But their tribal leader, Te Warena Taua, who chairs the marae committee, says he accepts the development because he could not stop it.
He led a tribal challenge in the Environment Court against extending the metropolitan urban limit outwards to include the property in 2012, but lost.

yep they lost, but that does not mean the fight is over.

Fletchers' application to the Overseas Investment Office, which was required to approve the deal because 56 per cent of the company's shares are foreign-owned, shows that it plans to vest almost half the land (16.2ha) in Auckland Council for "roads, reserves, walkways and other public amenities", including an area to be added to the historic reserve.
It says the other 16.6ha will be used to build 350-480 homes over the next eight years, including terrace, duplex and stand-alone houses.

Get that? fletchers are 56% foreign owned and this development is for one reason - to make money! Don't be fooled into thinking it is for parks or reserves or even housing NO it is to make money!

The land was confiscated by the Crown in 1863 and has been owned by the Wallace family since 1866.

Illegal and immoral - confiscated for what? because they wanted it that is why.

A Wallace descendant who grew up on the land and still lives there at age 87, Ailsa Blackwell, said she helped a friend gather "a sugar-bag full" of human bones from a cave on the farm for a school talk at Mangere Central School in about 1940.
"It was my job to hold them up at the school for the talk," she said. "The headmistress was shocked. She took them straight up to Pukaki Pa."

yep desecration of those sites over the years too

Another member of the protest group, journalist Qiane Matata-Sipu, said the group would not be satisfied even if Fletchers protected the caves.
"Look at it," she said, surveying the farmland stretching downhill from the caves. "This is all that's left. We don't want to be left with this little box [a small protected area]."

Give it back, all of it. 

And to end on a positive note

Heritage NZ Maori manager Te Kenehi Teira said the development would need an archaeological authority. "It will end up on my desk at some stage. I will take it straight to the Maori Heritage Council for a decision because of the magnitude of the place," he said.

Perhaps that will protect the sites but more is needed - the area must be given back and that will protect the site and the ancestors. 

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

good respect

This setting of the mauri stone at the site of the new community support building at Middlemore hospital is a good example of how different worldviews can be respected. Not only is the maori belief system respected, all others are as well as staff were able to put other meaningful items in with the mauri stone.

Manukau Courier - Stuff

Burying a mauri stone is a mark of respect to Papa, the earth mother, and bestows a blessing on the site and the buildings placed there. Counties Manukau District Health Board's chief executive Geraint Martin placed the mauri stone in the burial box. The ceremony was led by kaumatua and saw staff members place special items in the box.

No one loses from this approach - we all gain, no matter what we believe.


 

I don't trust you - not even slightly

I take nothing that gerry brownlee does or says at face value. I can't trust him and whenever he does something i wonder how he thinks it will advance his agenda. His combining of the minerals reviews is an example where i get a funny feeling that there is more going on than meets the eye.

From Scoop

Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee announced today that the review of the Crown Minerals Act (1991) and the review of associated minerals programmes and regulations will now be considered as a single package.

“It was originally envisaged that the review of the Crown Minerals Act would be complete by November this year, and a bill introduced into the House in December 2010. “A second phase of consultation on revised minerals programmes for petroleum and for minerals other than petroleum, and on the various regulations, was to follow in 2011,”

“However, submitters have been clear that they want the opportunity to comment on all aspects of the minerals management regime at the same time. “Releasing the package as a whole will enable people to comment on discrete changes and the overall proposed system. People will also be able to see how the first set of submissions has been considered.”

The problem I have is, as I said, i just don't trust gerry - not one little bit and I cannot help wondering what advantages he thinks he will get from a combined review. He is not netural on this issue - he is definately in the exploitation camp and that camp loves framing everything like this.

blah blah blah ... which aims to maximise the gains from New Zealand's petroleum resources for the benefit of all New Zealanders.“blah blah blah ... and for the maximisation of economic returns to New Zealand from our mineral resources,” Mr Brownlee said.

The lines are set - we know where this person sits and we will fight their sick idea of "maximisation of economic returns" because we know where the profit goes - into the hands of big big business, often based overseas.

sale just wrong

So someone will be making  lots of money from the auction of maori artifacts stolen and looted from these islands (and I mean that under all circumstances including gifts). Will our government bid - oh i don't think so, that is only for fantasy movies and finance company investors - maybe a museum will buy them - you know, for their antiquities area.

I'd like to see them come home and be treated with respect - this disgusting habit of comodifying indigenous people must stop and i'd ban the auction and sale of indigenous cultural artifacts.

From TV3

More than $600,000 worth of precious Maori artifacts are to be sold at auction in Paris next week, including a canoe prow said to have been owned by a Treaty of Waitangi signatory.

The prow is only about 28cm high and described as "very rare" and in the shape of a tattooed head representing Hema, a hero of Maori mythology, will be sold in Paris next Wednesday.

"The rarity of the work and its importance in the history of the Maori is equalled by the exceptional treatment of the facial tattoos, which completely cover the face in curvilinear patterns," the auction house said in notes for its catalogue.

A 48cm waka huia - an ancient wooden container for greenstone and huia feathers - was carved with stone tools. It was collected by William Oldman.

A 13cm hei tiki carved from greenstone was collected by naturalist Frederick Strange during a stopover of the HMS Acheron in Auckland in 1849.

Collected - such an innocent euphamism - how were 'artifacts' collected? What was the mindset of the collectors?

This is a filthy business and these auctions are the latest shameful episode in the long exploitation.

uplifting and worthwhile

This post from Robert Guyton is brilliant for a number of reasons - it talks about wetlands, those places that are so important for the ecosystem - a transition zone that is both water and land. The wetland was saved from destruction and restored with love and when the name was being discussed - local tangata whenua were consulted and they gifted the name, and other names which describe what happened in those areas beautifully. What a fantastic model for how to do things in this country - everyone benefits. Local tangata whenua feel respected and included and this builds stronger bonds between and within communities. The mauri of Te Wai Korari wetland is strengthened which flows through as mana to the kaitiaki. When Rob wrote to local maori - he gave them the time to reply when they were able and this took some time. Respecting that others work differently and that part of truely respecting is to allow response and recriprocation when the other party is ready, not when we are ready. Just think how many misunderstandings and conflicts could be avoided if we allowed others to respond, in their way, when they were ready. I think about the so called golden rule of "treat others as you would want to be treated" and it is wrong. The phrase should be "treat others the way they want to be treated".

From the post on Rob blog,

"... Expectantly. After several months and a hui that involved discussion on the issue, a beautifully handwritten letter arrived from te tari runaka. Yes, they said, the area was named long ago and yes, they would like to gift us the use of that name. Te Wai Korari. The nectar of the harakeke flower, named from the practice of collecting wai korari from the flowers to be drunk as a ‘cordial’ by children and adults alike, back in the day when sugar was truly a treat, not a mainstay like it is today. So Te Wai Korari it is. Our panel marking the entrance to the wetland is painted with nga rau harakeke me nga korari, puawai hoki, flax leaves, flower stalks and blossoms and the beautiful name. "

This gift of the use of the name has added context and dimension, depth and connection. Imagine what this country could be like if we did that - added the maori names and context to most if not all places and considered as a gift from maori to everyone. The names are there, the histories are there - they are known. It the right of all who call this country home to be able to learn the histories and the correct and meaningful names for different areas.

Visit robs blog it is awesome - Thanks for the post and keep up the great work Rob. Kia kaha.

Happyzine will post Robs story - if you wish to read positive real stories about people like you, doing exciting and good things in this country and around the world then I recomend visiting Happyzine. If you cannot be bothered with the endless negative news on the TV and want to read some positive media then try Happyzine. If you want to write your stories and contribute to a better world then Happyzine is the answer, it cannot be praised highly enough IMO.

We need to build our networks and share our stories.

whale respected correctly

Can we see the world this way?

From NZH

"An orca that washed up dead on Whakatane's Piripai Spit has been buried whole in a nearby Maori cemetery despite researchers wanting to perform an autopsy on the two-tonne whale."

Why did this happen?

"Ngati Awa cultural adviser Pouroto Ngaropo said sea creatures were spiritual guardians of the people of the land.

"This whale is a message that has been sent to us," Mr Ngaropo said.

"The last orca whale to come ashore we [Ngati Awa] know of was when Te Tahi-o-terangi rode a whale from Whakaari [Whale Island] to the mouth of the Whakatane River."

Te Tahi-o-te-rangi was a famous whale rider who, according to local legend, rode a whale-shaped taniwha called Tutarakauika to the mainland.

"Because of the whale's connection to the people of the land, it must be buried with its ancestors in the sacred urupa Opihi," Mr Ngaropo said.

Locals remained with the whale throughout Monday and Tuesday until Mr Ngaropo performed a karakia (blessing) before it was buried at Opihi."

This is correct and respectful. Thank you. Nothing is unconnected, and the washing up of this whale has many layers of meaning - let's listen and learn about those meanings.

Hindu and Maori - respect and connection - a model and win for us all

Awesome festival. This is the way to do it. Build strong connections between us all by highlighting our similarities and connections.

"Festival enhances Hindu-Maori relations

Press Release: Hindu Council of New Zealand
Deepawali Festival takes Hindu-Maori relations to greater heights

Rotorua Deepawali Festival 2009 turns to be an important milestone for Hindu-Maori relations (whakawhanaungatanga).

A number of Maori cultural traditions such as karakia, powhiri, kapa haka will be performed on Saturday, 7th November 2009 to commemorate Deepawali (Festival of Lights) at Rotorua Energy Events Centre and Apumoana Marae.

Deepawali is a well known Hindu festival celebrated by Indian community all over the world."

Enhances Hindu-Maori relations - doesn't that sound great?

“I have great admiration for the people of India. Learning of Dr Guna Magesan's desire to create a strong relationship between his people and my people I have captured "Rehua" to celebrate our journey of friendship” said Natanahira PONA, Rotorua’s Tohunga Whakairo (Master Carver)."

Intent is so important

"Conceived in the discipline of studying distant Constellations, Rehua proclaims our shared respect for Nature. It encourages the forging of strong entrepreneurial and personal relationships. It manifests the sacred mantra of Om and the miracle of life and death” said John Marsh, JP, MBE a respected Kaumatua in Rotorua.

The past, present and the future are all included in this one sound - "Om". Carving a symbol of Om and Sun in the Rehua means so much to our community. The Sun is described as the soul of the universe, representing the life-force on earth which sustains everything. His is the energy of confidence and power, consistency and inspiration.

Building connection between communities and doing it with mutual respect and understanding. What a fantastic model for all of us. Good work by these groups.

"Last year New Zealand Hindu conference was inaugurated by respected Te Arikinui King Tuheitia, the Maori king. That was a landmark in the history of New Zealand and race relations.

This year, carving of Rehua for our community is another landmark. This is a big leap in Hindu-Maori relations."

As Dr Guna Magesan, the coordinator of Rotorua Deepawali Festival and General Secretary of Hindu Council of New Zealand says,

“The respect and relations that we have built over the years have brought us close to the Maori community”.

We have been organising regular Marae stay for our community people to learn, understand and experience Maori culture and customs."

Kia kaha and thank you.