Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio

Kāi Tahu whānui, tēnā koutou katoa!

Nei anō te mihi mahana o Kāti Māhaki ki a koutou katoa.

Nei rā hoki te mihi aroha, te mihi poroporoaki ki kā mate huhua kua hika mai, kua hika atu. Ki a rātou katoa kua hika, haere, haere, haere atu rā. Moe mai koutou i te rakimārie.

Rātou ki ā rātou, tātou anō ki a tātou. Tēnā anō tātou katoa!

The temperature has dropped in Poutini with autumn definitely upon us. We have our heaters on and our fires warming up our whare!

We have been very busy at the office with manuhiri, marae bookings and meetings.

Its lovely to see everyone’s smiling faces.

Ngā mate

John Graeme Scott.

We are saddened to share with you the news of the passing of one of our esteemed kaumātua, John Scott. John was a big supporter of Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio in the early years and he made many trips to Bruce Bay and Hokitika from Dunedin to participate and offer support. We offer our deepest sympathy to John’s immediate and extended whānau.

Pounamu Pathway update

Those of you heading into Māwhera may have noticed the steady progress of Te Ara Pounamu on the old Revingtons Hotel site.

The Poutini Cultural Committee have been working with Wētā Workshop to finalise the exhibitions.

The Pounamu Pathway will be the first of three hubs around the takiwā, watch this space for more exciting updates.

Westland District Council Marae Visit

The Westland District Councilors went on a hīkoi to South Westland and were extremely impressed by the recent upgrades at our marae.

They were treated to a hearty cooked meal by Aunty Maree Wilson. We hear the amazing meal was talked about for days and was a highlight of their trip.

Rūnanga Meeting

Our quarterly rūnanga meeting was held on Saturday 13 May at the St John meeting rooms in Hokitika.

It was great to have a good turnout of whānau who were brought up to date on a number of kaupapa. It was especially pleasing to have the older and younger generations present with an age range of 1-86.

John Townend and Caroline Holden from Victoria University presented a very informative and interesting slide show on Fiordland and Southern Alps earthquake monitoring. Seismic testing is done every 10km along the fault line. There is a lot of international interest and concern in the lateness of the alpine rupture.

Susie Wood from Cawthron Institute presented a brief on the Lakes380 project which is in conjunction with GNS Science. There are approximately 3,800 lakes in New Zealand 10 percent of which are monitored. One of the lakes that has been monitored in our takiwā, Lake Paringa, showed that the last big earthquake in it was 8.2. This information was noted by viewing sediment core samples. Sampling also shows what the birdlife was in the area and vegetation changes.

The next rūnanga meeting will be held on Saturday 12 August, venue to be advised.

Congratulations

Proud mother, Julie Smith, sent through a photo and write-up about her son, Timothy Smith, who graduated last month from Waikato University.

Timothy has studied for four years and graduated with a Bachelor of Science majoring in Psychology, and a Bachelor of Business majoring in Finance.

Timothy is the grandson of Bo Smith from South Westland.

Grace Marshall from Kokatahi, great granddaughter of Kelly Wilson, graduated from Lincoln University with a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Agricultural and Professional Accounting.

Grace also received the Māori and Pacifica Accommodation Scholarship, and a four-year Westland Milk Products scholarship.

Congratulations to Olivia and Michaela van Dissel who won the women’s team duathlon at the recently held South Westland triathlon.

Juan Eastley-Fernandez

Tēnā koutou,

I am thrilled to announce that Juan Eastley-Fernandez joined the Te Kuru (BIS) team this week on a 12-month cadetship. Juan has made the move over from Hokitika and has whakapapa to Kāti Māhaki ki Makaawhio, of the wider Ngāi Tahu and Ngāti Māmoe iwi.

The cadetship aims to provide Juan with a good understanding of the various career paths available in the technology industry. In addition, this will enable Juan to strengthen his connections with his Ngāi Tahutanga and whakapapa. The programme will include some hands-on technical experience that will enable him to consider what area he might want to focus on for career development and/or further education.

Juan’s interests include science, engineering, and anything Sci-fi. He loves the outdoors and nature and has a strong desire to protect our world from the effects of pollution and climate change. His hobbies include tinkering with mechanical machines such as motorbikes and cars, and he also loves building gaming PCs for friends and family as well as playing competitive video games with friends.

Please join me in welcoming Juan to our Te Kuru team!