Ōnuku Rūnanga

Ōnuku Taonga Tuku Iho Wānanga

In late February Ōnuku held a wānanga for whānau to interact with taonga associated with our takiwā. The wānanga was part of a project funded by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage’s Mātauranga Māori Fund, managed by Te Pouhere Taonga, Heritage New Zealand. The Akaroa Museum, Okains Bay Museum, and Canterbury Museum were all involved in bringing back taonga to the marae for the wānanga.

On Saturday evening Ariana Tikao shared more aspects of the sound world of our tīpuna, in a demonstration of taonga pūoro, Māori instruments, and whānau then relaxed to a taonga puoro sound meditation.

Ariana, as the project’s lead researcher, has also been working with The Ngāi Tahu Archive team who have started creating records in their database Kareao. Helen Brown shared some initial records with whānau during the wānanga. This mahi will ensure that Ōnuku whānau will be able to access information about the taonga of our tīpuna, no matter where in the world they live.

Some Akaroa locals also attended, including Nigel Harrison, whose mother was gifted a small kete with a pounamu in it, on the occasion of his birth, as a koha from “Old Mā Tikao” from Ōnuku. This kete, and other ones like it, are now in the care of the Akaroa Museum. Other taonga associated with Ōnuku whānau included a multicoloured piupiu, and hue (gourd) with woven kupenga made by our tāua Amiria Puhirere; and a pā mangā – a fishing pole for barracouta, made by Pop Henare Keefe.

One unique taonga, usually on display at the Okains Bay Museum is a whakapakoko rākau, or god stick, found in Bruce’s Creek, Pakaiariki, Akaroa, by Louis Narbey in 1973. It has been carbon dated to around 1400 so is a very early and significant taonga for our area.

Many pounamu toki, hei tiki and hei pounamu have been found in our rohe, and we were fortunate to have Dougal Austin (Kāti Māmoe, Kāi Tahu, Waitaha), a Senior Curator of Mātauranga Māori from Te Papa Tongarewa give us a talk about pounamu technology and then demonstrate mahi hoānga. It was an amazing feeling being able to rub pounamu onto hoānga (sandstone) and experience the same sound and sensation our ancestors would have felt when they made their pounamu taonga.

Through this project we will also be able to connect with kōrero associated with some of the sites where the taonga were found. These include wāhi tipuna such as Wainui, Ōnawe, Ōnuku, Pōhatu (Flea Bay) and the Akaroa township. A boat trip on the Sunday was an opportunity to share kōrero with whānau about the history of some of these sites.

Vanessa Gray of Hiwa Media filmed wānanga highlights, and some of these will be soon be available on the Ōnuku website. We would like to thank the Pouhere Taonga Heritage New Zealand, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, the Akaroa Museum, Okains Bay Museum, Canterbury Museum, and the Ngāi Tahu Archive for their support of this project, and Dougal Austin all others who attended and contributed to this wānanga.

Top: Daniel Smith (Akaroa Museum) and Nigel Intemann (Okains Bay Museum). Above: Piupiu made by Amiria Puhirere. (More photographs on next page.)

Photographs by Huia Pacey.

Madison Tainui

Kia Ora, Ko Madison Tainui tāku ingoa. I am in my final year at the University of Canterbury studying towards a Bachelor of Health Science with a double major in Public Health and Health Education.

I am currently working on a fantastic initiative created by Dardanelle and Alexis. The programme is called the Māra Kai Packs, and aims to address the current cost of living crisis our community and whānau are facing.

The idea is to work with different whānau to create a vegetable garden so that they can then be more self-sufficient and self-sustainable, and at the same time, gain effective horticultural practices. Whānau will be spending time together and strengthening connections with our rūnanga. The goal for me is to empower whānau to be able to grow their own vegetables and provide for their whānau.

So far, I have purchased products and horticultural equipment and worked with two families to help begin their gardens. I will learn more myself and hope to spread the word about Māra Kai Packs.