Kimihia te matangaro - New app to reveal the stories of the whenua

A new analytical tool, currently in prototype form, promises to help whānau explore the rich data contained in 320 historic Taranaki roll (survey) plans.

“It’s been like looking for needles in a haystack but, for the moment, all the puzzle pieces are coming together,” says Adrian Poa, Parininihi ki Waitōtara Incorporation Te Rau Tātai Kura / Shareholder Engagement Advisor. “The prototype app is a vehicle for whānau to discover where their interests in PKW have come from.”

The app, developed by a team from the University of Otago, draws on Te Kooti Whenua Māori / Māori Land Court records and detailed images from the Taranaki District maps. Toitū Te Whenua / Land Information NZ gifted the maps to PKW and laser scanned 686 images dating back to the 1880s.

“The Otago University team has created a means of extricating knowledge and mātauranga from the plans. The data provides a foundation to create meta layers on the app, with potential for whānau to add their own stories and histories to the landscapes,” says Adrian.

The computer scientists and one geography/archaeology student value the project’s ‘real life’ application – an eyeopening experience for some.

“The work isn’t abstract. We’ve developed something that can be used and has impact,” says Dr Claudia Ott, summing up the team’s enthusiasm for the project. “We’ve enjoyed working with the PKW team and owners to find out what they want. We’ve all learned something too – the story of land confiscations, what happened at Parihaka, how the land fits into New Zealand’s history.”

Meanwhile, Adrian is hoping to use additional information gained from the historic images to clarify the names of parcels of land under PKW care. He anticipates taking the app on the road or to PKW hui to reveal to whānau the stories of their whenua.

“It will help whānau see where they are from if we can show where the current land is, and compare its current appellation (name) with its historic or original name from the 1963 Amalgamation Order,” he says.

In 1963, the 212 remnants of the West Coast Settlement Reserves were amalgamated to create the Paraninihi ki Waitōtara Mega Reserve. Names of the parcels of land have changed over time, which makes it difficult for whānau to track where they have inherited their shares from.

“Having the resources – the images and app – to match boundaries and find original names has been really important. For example, one of the maps confirms the block now known as part Section 155 Hua District was historically known as Tapuirau. Tapuirau is the name listed in the 1963 Amalgamation Order,” says Adrian.

“There is power in those old names. There may be pūrākau connected with them or they were significant pā or urupā sites. For example, part of the Waipipi wind farm is on a block that used to be called Te Oho. Te Oho is an old pā site next to Whenuakura River. Now the block is called Section 370 Okotuku District which doesn’t mean anything.”

The development of the app is part of the larger Kimihia te Matangaro project funded by the Science for Technological Innovation, National Science Challenge.

“Over five years the focus has broadened from finding our missing shareholders, to helping them discover where they fit in to the historical landscape of Taranaki, their connections to Taranaki, their iwi, their hapū and their marae,” says Adrian.

Project partners Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University, and Waipapa Taumata Rau – Auckland University, are working on smart data analytic tools to find missing shareholders and keep track of the growing number of shareholders and their uri.

The more recent relationships with Toitū Whenua and Otago University have generated an overlay of historic data to trace the whakapapa of the whenua that whānau come from.

“We appreciate the efforts, expertise and passion that all of the researchers have invested in this project, and look forward to sharing this tool with our wider Rau Titikura whānau,” says Adrian.

The project with Otago University is due to finish at the end of May.

The prototype app enables the information contained in old records and maps to be used in different ways that help reveal the whakapapa of PKW whenua.

1. Users can focus on a particular parcel of land – this example is now called Part Section 155 Hua District. It is located on Pohutukawa place near the New Plymouth Golf Course.

2. The app can also access historic Taranaki Roll Plans that may provide more information about the parcel of land. This image shows a Crown Record Map of the Paritutu Survey District placed over a current day map of New Plymouth. The area shown in the black square is where our parcel of land is located.

3. The app enables one map to be laid over another - we can confirm that our example block known as Part Section 155 Hua District was historically known as Tapuirau - one of the 212 remnants of the West Coast Settlement Reserves that was amalgamated in 1963 to create the Parininihi ki Waitotara Mega Reserve.

4. The app allows us to add our own knowledge and kōrero using the Annotation function Here the original name of the parcel of land and its number in the list from the 1963 Amalgamation order has been added, along with a link to a document from the Maori Land Court’s historic records ‘The Tapuirau Title Investigation from 1887’.