Image supplied by Gareth Gardner.
Mātauranga Māori adds to awa knowledge Memories flowed like the waters through the Mangawhero awa during two cultural monitoring days held on ĀtihauWhanganui Incorporation farming stations earlier this year.
During both days whānau shared stories of their tupuna and reflected on their early years as they visited three waterways - Ararawa on Ohorea Station, Hapuawhenua on Tohunga Station and an unnamed tributary above Raukawa Falls on Te Paenga Station - providing an insight into how the waterways have changed over the years. Ngā Waihua o Paerangi, previously Ngāti Rangi Trust, have been commissioned to run a five-year project to monitor these waterways. Results will combine western science and mātauranga Māori to provide a more holistic assessment. This is the first time this type of monitoring has been conducted on Ātihau-
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TOITŪ TE WHENUA
Whanganui Inc farms. Amoa Hawira and Megan Younger, Kairangahau Taiao from Ngā Waihua o Paerangi, work on the project. Both also whakapapa to Ngāti Rangi. “It was a huge thing for whānau to come back to places they hadn’t been to in years. That was beautiful in itself,” says Amoa. “Most didn’t realise that what they had to say was valuable to us. They were just having a good old yarn and reminiscing with people they haven’t seen for ages. Bringing them all together to walk the land, to be by these places and letting them talk was so rewarding.”
