Heritage Quarterly Ngahuru Autumn 2021

Page 3

EDITORIAL

ANDREW COLEMAN

Some time ago, while travelling through Northland, I was asked why archaeology was important. At the time I looked across the landscape and asked the person what they saw in the distance. I was told about the rolling hills, the house, the gardens and the trees. I was then asked what I saw. I replied that I saw Māori heritage and cultural landscapes and that it was mostly under the ground – under the rolling hills, the colonial house and the adapted gardens, trees and vegetation. I also explained that it was for this reason that archaeology and its regulation through authorities played an important role in ensuring that Māori heritage and history was able to be understood and told into the future. The truth is that it is the archaeological authority process and programmes such as Mātauranga Māori that will ensure our cultural landscapes and full heritage will endure. It is a delight to have the Mātauranga Māori programme highlighted in this edition of Heritage Quarterly. In reviewing and resetting the strategy for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, our Board and Māori Heritage Council has challenged the organisation to ensure that there is a balance in our work with more emphasis on Māori heritage and history. Each of the stories in this edition allows us to ask questions about the history of Aotearoa New Zealand. The opening of Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House last December was indeed

The prominence and importance of Māori heritage The truth is that it is the archaeological authority process and programmes such as Mātauranga Māori that will ensure our cultural landscapes and full heritage will endure. It is a delight to have the Mātauranga Māori programme highlighted in this edition of Heritage Quarterly. a fantastic occasion and the interpretation that tells the stories of Kate Sheppard and the Suffrage Movement are certainly stunning. It is timely to ask: what preceded the current house being there, what are the stories of the Clyde Road area of Christchurch (or indeed the wider Ōtautahi area) for Māori, and what was the cultural landscape like? Another example of the breadth of future thinking, based on a full awareness of the past, is Waiuta. What a fantastic addition to the Tai Poutini West Coast Tohu Whenua programme. It is one that was significantly contributed to by a dedicated and committed Friends of Waiuta group. If you follow with interest the story of Waiuta you will read about the early 1900s and the formation of what was recalled as a ‘raw and new town’ that was established to support the mining ventures. This story in itself is impressive, but again the whenua at Waiuta has a longer history than the early 1900s and a likely very significant Māori history that Ngāti Waewae is looking to have told.

The Hoffman Kiln in Palmerston North, the site of the Ataturk Memorial in Wellington and the Chatham Islands all feature in this edition. The stories are about a point in time and the questions can now be asked on what preceded that time. One might ask why the emphasis change? Heritage and history is required to be in the New Zealand Education Curriculum, and knowing this full and comprehensive past allows a richer contribution to be made. Importantly for us at Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, if we are asking then we can be quite influential in how this develops for all New Zealanders. We can fulfil our role as the advisors, guardians and kaitiaki of heritage. Waitangi Day was recently marked with our staffed properties being open to the public free of charge. It is timely to reflect on Māori and colonial heritage, not just on this day, but every day. We hope New Zealanders increasingly ask the question of what was at these places before the construct of a colonial building took place. It is time for a broader consideration of heritage. n

ANDREW COLEMAN CHIEF EXECUTIVE

heritage.org.nz

3


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.