Transcript of the webinar “A Te Ao Māori perspective on the maunga tree issue in the context of relationships with the taiao (natural world) and with each other”
Recorded 7-8 pm, Tuesday 2 November 2021
Watch the webinar here
Co-presented by Shirley Waru
Ko Te Rarawa o Ngāpuhi te Iwi. Ko Te-Uri-O-Tai Te Hapū
Leader of the Respect Mt Richmond / Ōtāhuhu maunga tree protection group
Co-presented by Yo Heta-Lensen
(Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine)
Mt Albert resident and longstanding Honour the Maunga supporter
Hosted by Samar Ocean Wolf Ciprian
(Al Harithi Bedouin and indigenous Afghani)
Mt Albert resident and founding Honour the Maunga member
Yo Heta-Lensen
Kia Ranginui e tu iho nei, Kia Papatūānuku e takoto nei, Ngā maunga, nga awa, ngā taonga tāpu o tēnei ao, tēna kotuou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.
Tēnā, ngā mihi te tukuna atu ki nga manawhenua, te kapekape tonu i ngā ahikaa roa o ngā maunga whakahī i Tāmaki-mākaurau, tēnā koutou
Tēnei te mihi kia koe e Samar, nau to tatou hui I tuwhera, tena koe
Kia koe nōki a whaea Shirley, tēnei ka mihi.
Kei te mihi hoki, ki te kaupapa, a te po nei, Otirā, kia koutou, te whānau whanui, te matāwaka kua tae mai nei ki tēnei hui irirangi, tēnā koutou katoa
Ko Ngātokimatawhāorua te waka
Ko Ngāpuhi ko Ngāti Hine a Hine-ā-Maru ngā iwi
Ko Te Uriroroi, Te Parawhau, Te Mahurehure ki Whatitiri ngā hapū
Ko Whatitiri te maunga
Ko Waipao te awa
Ko Poroti te tūrangawaewae
Ki te taha o tōku whaea Ko Heta te whānau,
Ki te taha o tōku matua ko Lensen te whānau,
Ko Yo Heta-Lensen ahau
Kei Tāmaki-makaurau ahau e noho ana
Ko Ōwairaka te Maunga herenga ki Tamaki Makaurau
Ko Te Whau, Ko te Auanga o nga kuri o Wairaka ngā te awa e rere ana ki raro I tenei maunga
No reira e te whānau Ko au te maunga, Ko te maunga ko au
Ko au te whenua ko te whenua ko au
Tihei mauri ora!
Part of the kaupapa of my kōrero tonight is to speak about values and principles inherent in this discussion. I (just) spent the first part of my kōrero with you explaining who I am and where I come from. The first is a quintessential value in Te Ao Māori and that is whanaungatanga. Whanaungatanga is something that I grew up with. It involves extending aroha and care for all people, not just my own.
We care for taiao in the same way. Our relationship with whenua is based on a relationship with the natural world that links us back to the very Earth, to Papatūānuku as our mother. She is, in the words of Whaea Rangimarie Rose Pere, ‘Hallowed Ground’. ALL OF HER.
These understandings are so ingrained in us, and this knowledge is transmitted from one generation to the next. Our connections to Papatūānuku are reaffirmed through whānaungatanga. This is such a central concept for Māori. Kaumatua and elder, Matua Haare Williams, teaches that whanaungatanga relates to a pattern of ‘right’ relationship between people, place, space, materials, and time. Enmeshed with whanaungatanga is the notion of manaaki - to care for and protect. Whanaungatanga – a pattern of right relationship. Manaaki – care and protect.
In the spirit of whanaungatanga, I want to start by telling the story of the migration of my whānau to the Mt Albert area in the early 1940s. There was a war happening and my grandparents brought their nine tamariki to live in Tāmaki Mākaurau. My grandfather worked on a farm on May Road. Eventually the family bought their first home on Stewart Road, Mt Albert. They were the only Māori in the street! It was not an easy time for them. People would not let their children play with my mother or her sisters and brothers. Their neighbours would not talk to them. When one of my aunties fell in love with a local boy, someone came and stood out in front of the family home and yelled at her that she would never be good enough. Happily, they married and had a beautiful life together. Two people from Mt Albert, one Māori – one Pākeha.
My mother married a Dutch man and although we were raised out in South Auckland as youngsters, our base was - and is - Ōwairaka. We return here. Eventually my parents moved back to Ōwairaka and we still have our family home here. We have stayed in the shadow of Ōwairaka all my life. In time I had my own children. I lived on the side of Ōwairaka for a number of years with my eldest boy, and down the hill further with my second in the family home.
As a beginning teacher I taught in the local bilingual unit in our community primary school alongside a fellow local resident, Whaea Paula Harrison. We took our tamariki up that maunga and they learned to name their surrounding maunga and moana. They climbed trees up there. Whaea Paula and I worked collaboratively and built a strong base for the whānau unit there - one Māori, one Pākeha.
I still frequent the maunga, although these days not as often as I should, and I will come back to that. I watch the bird life that has become so prolific up there. Tūi feed from the nectar of an assortment of trees, some Māori, some Pākeha.
I step on to that maunga and I greet Ruarangi, I greet Rakataura, I greet Wairaka, who have all left a legacy that is now written into the whakapapa of the maunga.
I acknowledge their mauri. I acknowledge the impact on Papatūānuku as battles for authority over rich resources needed to build a life in Tāmaki Makaurau and prosper from the land ensued over a number of years, generations, centuries greatly diminishing and altering the geographies of Ōwairaka - damage caused by Māori and Pākehā.
I come to greet my tuākana, the trees. And I greet Tāne, and the sacred pūriri to my right as I enter the maunga. I veer to my left and walk on to the mighty gum trees that are part of the geography of Ōwairaka and sacred to the Aborigine people of Australia.
I pay homage to all the sacred trees of the maunga, as do the birds and the insects. They have much to teach us about care for Papatuānuku.
They do not differentiate between Māori and Pākeha. To them it is a food source. To them it is shelter. Papatūānuku embraces all the trees that are there. They help to hold the soil together. Tāne allows the macrocarpa to flourish alongside the totara. Some of his tamariki gorge on the blossoms of the wild cherry trees while others flit and dart through the puriri, tōtara, mānuka and tī kōuka in search of a more substantial meal of insects.
After so many years of neglect, over-extraction and quarrying, the maunga has settled in to a rhythm. There was a serenity up there. It has grounded me. I would often frequent the maunga and reconnect with my being as Māori. I would face my homelands and let the tears flow as I called to my grandmother and my mother – two strong Māori women who raised their moko in the shadow of Ōwairaka before making their spirit journey back to their own whenua and beyond. My wairua has been uplifted and restored by Ōwairaka all my life.
As an urban Māori I have been able to ground myself in Tamaki Mākaurau through whakawhānaungatanga with my local maunga. Ko Ōwairaka te maunga herenga ki Tāmaki Makaurau [Ōwairaka is the place where I am anchored in Auckland]. I have lived alongside the Whau river most of my life as well. I can see it bending and meandering through the area from the top of the maunga. A major highway of our people. I know my own tupuna traversed it; it brings me comfort to know that.
“The birds and the insects have much to teach us about care for Papatuānuku. They do not differentiate between Māori and Pākeha trees. To them the trees are a food source and shelter. Papatūānuku embraces all the trees that are there.”
Whenever people came to stay with us, as soon as they arrived I took them up the maunga. I would share with them the stories I know of this maunga and orientate them to Tamaki Makaurau - pointing out where we are in relation to the other maunga and awa in the area.
This is my connection to Ōwairaka. I am urban Māori. My whenua lies to the north of the maunga but I know and love the maunga of Tāmaki Makaurau. Its geographies and whakapapa maybe even better than my own homelands. I didn’t stop caring for Papatūānuku or relating to her just because I was disconnected from my own maunga. We have a duty of kaitiakitanga for Papatūānuku, not for parts of her! Ōwairaka, like most the maunga in Tāmaki Makaurau, has been my playground, my teacher, my healer as a young Māori growing up in a city that tried so hard to invisibilise my language and culture.
Although I do have whakapapa ties to Ngati Whātua and Tainui, I am not interested in making any claims about being mana whenua up here. I am here to speak relationally about the maunga, and speak about the whānaungatanga that has been maintained between the maunga and her residents, which include the rākau [trees], the manu [birds], the ngāngara [insects], and even the wai and of course us, the people – Ngā hau e wha – ngā iwi o te motu. I want to honour the MANA OF THE WHENUA.
Ko Ōwairaka he maunga whakahirahira, he maunga kōrero. There are so many stories that the maunga can tell. The indigenous rakau – yes – but all trees have sovereignty, and all trees are indigenous to somewhere. I remember taking an Aboriginal professor who was visiting Unitec up to the maunga. When he saw the gum trees up there, he was very emotional, and he made me stop the car so he could do blessings to the trees. And he made me promise I would go back there and visit those trees in honour of his tūpuna for the sacredness that they carry.
In trying to understand how it has come to be that a council elected body [referring to Tūpuna Maunga Authority] now is making decisions about our community trees, claiming mana whenua status, claiming to be the voice of Māori, I have had to go on a massive journey.
As I see it, Aotearoa is undergoing a paradigm shift and a devolution to co-governance structures. There is confusion occurring all around. I personally believe the Council and other delegated authorities and co-governance partners, mandated by Government, have a duty of care to its community.
There are opportunities here to help to heal the relationships between Māori and Pākehā, of which I spoke about what it was like for Mum when they came to Tāmaki Makaurau. And these tensions still lie under the surface, but everyone (in Government at least) is either selectively blind or suffering from some sort of cultural amnesia or paralysis when it comes to how we are being taken on a journey of restoration.
This needs restorative conversations. This needs resourcing which includes kōrero, whanaungatanga, and time spent hearing everyone’s community voice as part of their duty of care. I feel that Council [and Tūpuna Maunga Authority] may have missed a vital opportunity to broker a closer connection and has been remiss in role modelling their own values. This has left me as a Māori in my local community with no voice and feeling as if I am being colonised all over again.
In relation to the new authorities that are being established I have heard and read about terms such as neo-Māori capitalism and co-governance – and I even heard co-governance described as ‘apartheid by stealth’ in a recent Herald article I read. It concerns me that Council [and Tūpuna Maunga Authority] may not be cognisant of what it might feel like for those of us who are bearing the brunt of that and who feel let down by both sides of the Crown’s co-governance mechanisms.
With all due respect, Tūpuna Maunga Authority is NOT a mana whenua in the way I understand mana whenua. It is a board made up of representatives that include Māori, and non-Māori councillors whose role it is to represent their community.
Whether out of fear, not wishing to be labelled as racist, apathy, or confusion, many people Tangata Whenua, and Tangata Tiriti [non-Māori] are afraid to speak up and voice their opinions even about the felling of the trees let alone the renaming and gating of the maunga. I personally do believe that it is right to respect our maunga – that they are not ‘recreational parks’ or ‘quarries’.
As to the renaming of Ōwairaka, I would feel a lot happier if I knew that Ngāti Awa [Wairaka descendants] had been involved in discussions about this. Or even if I was able to understand how the Government could elect a tendered board and how that board can be given a mantle of mana whenua when some of the board are not even Māori. And how they can tell me, as a Māori that I have no rights over care for this maunga when I was born in the shadow of the maunga and have walked that maunga all my life!
“How they can tell me, as a Māori that I have no rights over care for this maunga when I was born in the shadow of the maunga and have walked that maunga all my life! ”
Tūpuna Maunga Authority produced a slide show on May 2, 2019. Slide 8’s heading was entitled ‘Healing the maunga’. I think that’s awesome. Slide 9’s heading was ‘Cultural restoration not ecological restoration!’ Now there may be something bigger going on that I need to understand, that the Tūpuna Maunga Authority has the cultural restoration in hand and other bodies are taking care of the ecological side. I’m not sure, but Papatūānuku is the foundation of our existence. If we fail to care for the ecology of the maunga then we are not healing her. Therefore this project, these aims laid down, are NOT and WILL NOT contribute to cultural restoration – at least not for me. To me it tramples on the mana of our taonga tuku iho [treasure to be handed down]. All Papatūānuku tamariki have mauri, have mana, have wairua. This includes the trees. It includes the people.
In closing I want to say that this is an opportunity to do things differently, to develop Māori approaches that recentre communities and honour the mana mauri and wairua of all things. We are in unprecedented times; our planet is in crisis. Papatūānuku is calling ALL her tamariki to help.
Manaaki whenua manaaki tangata haere whakamua, no reira tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou katoa.
Samar Ocean Wolf Ciprian
Thank you Yo, for the depth and power in all that you shared and all that you bring and the invitation to everybody who loves this space to understand these profound concepts much more deeply. At the beginning, for those who joined a little bit later, we’re touching on our relationships with the living taiao, the living world, in the context of the maunga tree issue.
In the context of what started with us gathering at Ōwairaka in 2019 and forming relationships with each other because all of us got a call from the land and it is now growing. A really powerful example of that is you, Shirley, is the work you’re doing at Ōtāhuhu/Mt Richmond, starting your own movement, respect Ōtāhuhu/ Mt Richmond, where you're going through the same thing that we’re going through in Ōwairaka/Mt Albert. I’m handing the space to you my dear. Thank you both again.
Shirley Waru
Ko Te Rarawa o Ngāpuhi te Iwi. Ko Te-Uri-O-Tai Te Hapū.
Thank you Samar. Good evening everyone. Thank you so much for joining Yo and I tonight. I am speaking about what is happening on our mountains.
I am of Māori descent, I grew up in Auckland, my father is from the far North. Ko Taiao tōku Maunga. Ko Awaroa tōku Awa. Ko Ngātokimatawhaorua tōku Waka. Ko Te Rarawa tōku Iwi. Ko Te-Uri-O-Tai tōku Hapū.
Even though I grew up in Auckland, and didn’t learn to speak Māori until my 50s, my father entrenched in us the Māori world view and much of my life is based on the Māori world view. [It’s] how I live. Mātauranga Māori is our world view, quite different to the world view of other cultures. And Tikanga is the way we carry out things in the correct way. When my father died in 2006, it prompted me to go to the University of Auckland to find out who I am – ko wai au. I studied Māori as my major and I studied education as my minor. I had the privilege of studying Mātauranga Māori papers with Pāpā Hone Sadler. At the end of that paper I think I had a more in-depth understanding of Mātauranga Māori, but it also affirmed to me that I actually already knew quite a lot already anyway.
My love of the environment is inside me. It’s in my heart and it’s a love that if you're Māori you know that it’s not from the present time - it’s a love that’s passed down to us through passages of time through our Māori ancestors – i tuku iho, i tuku iho. Because of those values, I have to stand up for the maunga that stands in my local community, and I have to speak out on behalf of my local community to try and stop all of our trees from being chopped down.
Mātauranga Māori, when it concerns the environment, we do not differentiate between native and exotic. We treat the environment as a whole. We do that with trees and we do that with birds.
Unfortunately, a new narrative has been created where native trees are supposedly better than exotic trees. And we are left with this dilemma of Tūpuna Maunga Authority who represent Ngā Mana Whenua o Tamaki Makaurau (who have had all the volcanic cones returned to them in 2014) deciding that they are going to chop down all of the exotics on our mountains.
On our mountain [Ōtāhuhu / Mt Richmond] 75% of our tree canopy is exotic. I would say that 75% of the birds that we have on the maunga are native and the native birds use the exotic trees all the time. Our maunga is a nesting area for our native birds, both land and sea birds, because our corridor includes the Manukau Harbour, Mangere Mountain (which has already had 153 trees felled), Mt Smart, One Tree Hill/ Maungakiekie and Maunga Richmond.
Our local board area of Mangere/Ōtāhuhu is actually down to 8% tree canopy. It is the lowest tree canopy tree coverage in any local board area in Auckland. This is why it perplexes me that Māori would think it is okay to actually take all these trees down.
I have tried to interact with the Tūpuna Maunga Authority, with our local board, and also the local board of Maungakiekie, because even though Mt Richmond stands in our rohe – our area - it sits right on the boundary and is actually in the Maungakiekie board. I have also tried to talk to Mana Whenua, Te Ākitai Waiohua, who are the Mana Whenua [iwi] of our Maunga. The Maunga [Ōtāhuhu Mt Richmond] went back to them in the Treaty settlement [where they were part of a collective of 13 iwi and hapū]. But no one will come and walk with me at the park and talk to me about the community issues that we are really concerned about our trees coming down in a clear fell.
We have asked for a presentation last year via a Council facility. I was able to present to Tūpuna Maunga Authority and I asked them to wait 60 years, which I think is really quite reasonable, before felling all of the exotic trees. We have asked them to plant first and fell later. But the planting programme will need a bit of revising because they are actually not going to be planting very many trees at all and they are also not going to be planting where they are felling the trees.
We have had quite a lot of planting done already and this all started for me mainly about the trees and the birds. But Tūpuna Maunga Authority have spread their wings and they are also appearing to be working towards closing down our sports clubs, which are on the mountain.
We have the rugby league club that has been there for I think about 110 years. They have been given an ultimatum where they have to drop their liquor license, which is how I think they raise most of their funds, before their lease can be renewed. The car club also feels very pressured. They are not really welcome on the mountain anymore.
“In relation to the environment, Matauranga Māori does not differentiate between native and exotic. We treat the environment as a whole. We do that with trees and we do that with birds. ”
To me, this is a complete contradiction of the actual Treaty settlement. The narrative has grown and it looks like our sporting clubs are under pressure as well. So, I am really wondering where this is going. The Treaty settlement was signed by Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau, not the Tūpuna Maunga Authority, on the basis that these spaces were our parks and reserves.
I know the mountains have a lot of history and I know that history is very important to the people that call the local maungas concerned their turangawaewae. But there are communities that live around these mountains as well and we actually own properties here and in our area the mountain is actually the only place we have to go and walk amongst the trees.
It is the only place our children have to go and walk amongst the trees. The local club has actually lost its sports field and that is where the plantings have been done. The plantings could have been done in lots of other places, but unfortunately they [the Authority] decided they would take the sports field instead.
The first trees that were felled on our mountain were taken down in 2017, so I am four years down the track now trying to stop any more trees being felled. The first lot of trees that came down were on a cliff face and it was covered in olive trees. Tūpuna Maunga Authority had reclassified those trees as pests and that is why they were taken down.
Our community got no notification whatsoever about that felling. We weren’t given the courtesy of a sign put up to let us know they were coming. We just arrived one morning to find a lot of hurricane fencing up. I actually had the number of a staffer with the Tūpuna Maunga Authority and I contacted him via email asking him what was happening with the olive trees because our ruru / morepork were actually nesting in these trees at the time. I didn’t know on the day, but if native birds are nesting in trees they [legally] can’t be felled.
But the staffer of the Tūpuna Maunga Authority basically broke tikanga as far as being a Māori goes because we would never interfere with the nesting of our native birds because they are our kaitiaki.
As Māori we need to perform kaitiakitanga to look after those things that are precious, and the birds are precious to us. But they also broke a Pākehā rule as well, because it’s in the Reserves Act that you can’t fell if there is any nesting going on in the trees.
“I really feel strongly that it is time we had some transparency with the Authority. It is [also] time our Council members who are on the Tūpuna Maunga Authority board stepped up and started talking, because a co-governance is not a co-governance when only half of it has a voice. ”
I really feel we - our various communities - are stuck in the middle of this co-governance model, which I have read in the past was apparently a bit of pilot model for Auckland. It’s never really made any sense to many of us until the [government’s] He Puapua document was published recently. And one of the recommendations of He Puapua is that all Department of Conservation land is put into a co-governance with Māori, but Māori will be the sole decision makers of that co-governance.
That’s what we are experiencing with this co-governance. We basically had our Prime Minister turn her back on us. We had our Auckland Council turn their back on us. We have had our local boards turn their backs on us. And we have had Mana Whenua turn their backs on us.
I don't think it is a good role model if this is what we are going to be experiencing with other co-governances in education, health and the judiciary and every facet of life actually that is part of New Zealand society. We really need to get this right! Yo and I have gone out on a bit a limb tonight speaking about it because the hierarchy in Māori society really prefers a man to be speaking of these things. It’s not really for women to do that. But we don’t have a Māori man who is willing to speak up for us at the moment, so we have had to come forward ourselves.
At Mt Richmond we are preparing to go on to the mountain and occupy the mountain because resource consent has just gone through to fell hundreds of trees. The reason that we are doing that is because Mana Whenua aren’t.
From a Māori perspective, I don't understand that because I understand what Mātauranga Māori is and I understand that the mountain is our kaitiaki and I understand that the trees are our tuakana and I understand that our native birds are very, very important. Not only as the way of spreading seeds, but this environment is very important for our well-being. The mountains are actually like our rock in various communities, and they put the well-being back into our community.
I don't understand why Māori want to take that away. If the trees are felled on our mountain you will take the mauri and wairua from us. And if you say that by doing it that you are putting the wairua and mana back into the maunga then we need to find a compromise somewhere because it is just not tika, it’s not Tikanga. I would like to see Māori to start acting like Māori please.
I would like to see some kaitiakitanga. I would like to see some kindness to our communities. And and I would like to see some kōrero face to face – kanohi ki kahohi.
The first time I asked the Tūpuna Maunga Authority to come to the mountain, at Mt Richmond, to talk to our community was over walking our dogs. We have been very fortunate to walk [our dogs off leash] on the mountain for many years, some of us over 30 years. We arrived one day to find a sign being erected. I always seem to be at the right place at the right time, so I arrived when the Tūpuna Maunga Authority crew came in as a group and put up their first signs.
They were not friendly to me. They were not kind to me. They were actually rude to me. I did ask if there were any tangata whenua in the group, and there was. He was lovely. Apparently it was his first day, so I had made his first day a wee bit difficult. We had a bit of a kōrero and they [i.e. Tūpuna Maunga Authority] call themselves “The kaitiaki” and I’ll just use the name Tama for the staffer I talked to. He said to me “You know we are not the kaitiaki; the maunga is the kaitiaki?” I said: “Yes I do, and all the trees and the birds are the kaitiaki as well”.
So, these new narratives that humans are kaitiaki are just incorrect, and they have been fed to our Council in Auckland. They have been fed to our politicians and to be quite frank, everyone has just been sucked in by it because, in our situation with the mountain and our trees being felled and the habitat of our native birds being destroyed, is not Tikanga. It’s not Mātauranga Māori and the things that the Tūpuna Maunga Authority are saying on behalf of Ngā Mana Whenua, are actually not correct. And I will be happy to have a conservation with anyone from Tūpuna Maunga Authority about that subject if they are willing to come and talk - but they never are.
I really feel like the Treaty settlement at this point in time is a broken promise. We were promised as New Zealanders that when the maunga were returned to Māori that nothing would change for us. That we would always have access to these green spaces, and that we would always be able to enjoy the activities that we have always enjoyed in those spaces. But that’s not happening and when we have tried to present to Tūpuna Maunga Authority they won’t even minute what we have to say.
I really feel strongly that it is time we had some transparency with the Authority. It is [also] time our Council members who are on the Tūpuna Maunga Authority board stepped up and started talking, because a co-governance is not a co-governance when only half of it has a voice. The council and our local boards are there to advocate for us and they are not doing that. I don't know why; I can only guess. But it appears that you have been told by someone higher up the chain not to have a voice and that you are to leave the decision making left purely to the Tūpuna Maunga Authority.
The communities have not been included in that conversation, and we want that conversation – all of our various communities. Even the communities that have had their trees felled want the conversation because we’re not happy with the planting replacement of all the trees that have come down. We are not happy with the loss of birds we have experienced on our different mountains and we are not happy about the sporting facilities our children used are being taken away. Even though Tūpuna Maunga Authority have made it look like it is the clubs’ choice, I don't think the whole story is being told.
Samar
Thank you so much for that; it’s so powerful. For those that are newer to what you are sharing it feels important to elucidate what the Tūpuna Maunga Authority is because there is kind of a story that they own the mountain. And to my understanding in 2014 there was a Treaty settlement where the maunga were handed back in trust to be kept for all the people of Auckland to access. To 13 iwi and hapū.
The Tūpuna Maunga Authority was set up to administer the mountains, not own them, not act like they could barrel in and make all the decisions. They are not all Māori and they are not all mana whenua. You have both woven and spoken to this in such a deep and precise level but dialling back a bit, wait a minute, this is a colonial construct.
Yo
You are absolutely right Samar. I have just checked that on the website tonight. The Auckland Council are responsible of the management of the tūpuna maunga under the direction of Tūpuna Maunga Authority and the Council’s elected members are there to represent community voice.
As a member of Ōwairaka I became involved [in Honour the Maunga] because the voice of the local community wasn't being heard. I remember when I first came on board, a lot of people believed that there are a lot of Pākehā people totally opposed to the concept of the re-indiginisation of the maungas. But my understanding has shifted now because actually what I learned was that many of the local residents went and helped with the first planting. They are not opposed to it at all, it’s HOW it is being done.
It’s the clear felling of these trees - and you only have to look at Mangere, the maunga, and what has happened on the site there - to see the results of that. And I just thought it was nice when talking about colonial and de-colonial things, I found a lovely little quote by Whaea Linda Tuhiwai Smith: “There is a powerful literature about de-colonial love which highlights the importance of love as a counter to colonial violence”.
So, we understand. I’m not saying that it isn’t timely for these conversations to be occurring. That’s the hard part for me is that it’s bitter-sweet because it might seem good for Māori, it might seem fantastic. But the other thing that Whaea Linda Tuhiwai Smith talks about is for indigenous people to find these models that aren't more recolonising models, but to find models that work better with our collective identity, that work better with our kaupapa and aroha of Paptūānuku and for all her tamariki.
I think, Whaea Shirley, you summed up some of the important points really well. The other thing is if this is really about the restoration of the mana of the whenua then think about what the impact is under the soil as well and the wai. Already [the river] Whau has experienced terrible trauma.
Thinking further afield about the pest plants in the Waitakere forest. Go and take the moth plant out if you want to. For me personally, why attack these beautiful trees that are home to these beautiful manu, and the beautiful ngarara? They have created an ecosystem for themselves up there now when there so much we can do to restore the mana of the whenua.
Ko en na mauri ora.
Samar
Thank you. And so much other work to do to support Māori. So much other work you do to deeply tend to the indigenous people of this land who need support rather than taking away their green spaces. Shirley, coming back to you, thank you for letting that little segue. Is there anything you want to add to your share and your experience?
Shirley
Yes, just mainly that my community is predominately Māori and Pacific Island people, and the mountain is very important to them because we are a low socio-economic area out here, which is quite different to Ōwairaka and Mt Albert.
We’re also under the unitary plan a high intensification area, so we have lots and lots of building going on here. Terraced housing.
Just one street created housing for a couple of thousand people. Actually, this is just one development in Panama Road, and I understand that the school had great difficulty in catering for all the children last year. But also, I would like to talk about Covid and how our lives have changed.
I am not quite sure what day we are up to in the lockdown - mid 70s I think. It’s an awfully long time, and during this time the only thing we have been able to do is go shopping or go to our park or reserve for a walk.
Bearing this in mind and the possibility that the [Covid] situation is actually going to go on for a long time perhaps,
I would like to ask Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau and Tūpuna Maunga Authority to please start thinking more about the wellbeing of the people who live here in Tāmaki Makaurau.
And to re-think your plan, please, and stop being in such a hurry because there’s plenty of time to make your dream come true.
We do support the planting of natives, but I do think it is a dangerous time to try and put everything in to one basket because we have already got kauri die back and other diseases in exotic trees as well. We need every single tree we’ve got.
I know that it is not just you people that are chopping trees down, I know it is happening everywhere. On private land, developers, roading, AT - everyone is doing it. But it has just gone nuts in Auckland. At least just give us some peace in our parks and reserves.
Stop the park grab. Stop the land grab. And stop chopping down our trees, please, in those green spaces. Create some more green spaces for us; don't take them away.
“Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau and Tūpuna Maunga Authority - please start thinking more about the wellbeing of the people who live here in Tāmaki Makaurau. Re-think your plan, please, and stop being in such a hurry because there’s plenty of time to make your dream come true. ”
Samar
Thank you. We had promised there would be time for questions if possible. I want to ask a brief question inspired by what you just said, Shirley, about land grab. There is a whole ‘land back” movement around the World and Yo, you said something a couple of days ago about why this this isn’t how it looks. Do you want to elucidate on that briefly?
Yo
I don't want to jump in front of Shirley because that was actually her point. (Shirley said to go ahead.) So, it is absolutely noticeable. The background behind me, that I selected [for tonight’s webinar] is the view from the sky tower across to Ōwairaka and the big shadow you can see is Ōwairaka. Now you can see the green spaces that are there. That was ten years ago and if you could see it now, you would be surprised how much of our green spaces have gone.
“Indigenous people need to find models that aren’t more recolonising models. And to find models that work better with our collective identity, that work better with our kaupapa and the aroha of Paptūānuku and for all her tamariki. ”
Anybody who doesn't understand the planet is in extreme crisis, this is the time when we do need to put aside, as I said we cannot continue to violate Papatūānuku. And we cannot continue to hold a humanistic view of the world as being here to support our own agenda and to fulfil our own desires, whether they be for cultural restoration, power, economic growth – for mana whenua, tangata whenua, or any “tanga” we promote.
I understand there is a de-colonising narrative that is being promoted in the positioning of certain Council appointed authorities, but I want to re-state that I stand for the mana of the whenua, I stand for the sovereignty of Papatūānuku. I can see great potential in the idea that we are looking at it from the more culturally inspired landscapes, even to do with housing. That must mean that we take care of Papatūānuku, it must mean that as well. Mauri ora.
Samar
Thank you. I have a question from Jessica: You mention that the maunga and the manu being the kaitiaki, and not the humans. Did I hear that correctly?
Shirley
Yes, in Mātauranga Māori we believe that our ancestors come back reincarnated, often as birds or other things that are non-human. So, Māori role is kaitiakitanga, the doing bit, but the kaitiaki is actually the mountain, the forest, the waters - things that are not human.
But that is just part of many narratives that our young corporate Māori seem to be inventing and that makes me cross, because I like who I am. I’ve always liked being Māori and I don't want my identify changed. And I don't want my culture desecrated actually, by younger people deciding now that we differentiate between native and exotic and that it’s okay to chop down perfectly healthy very old trees, some of them on our mountain are over 100 years old just because they are not native. Because that is not us; that’s not who we are as Māori people.
[Thank yous and closing comments]
[Closing karakia]
Glossary
aroha = compassion / empathy
awa = river
kaitiaki = guardian
kaitiakitanga = guardianship
kaupapa = purpose
kōrero = talk
mana = power / authority / strength
manaaki = care and protect
manu = birds
mauri = life-force
maunga = mountain / volcanic cone
moana = sea / ocean
moko = grandchildren
ngāngara = insects
rākau = trees
taiao = the natural world
tikanga = correct protocol / customary practice
tūpuna = ancestors
turangawaewae = a place to stand
tuākana = elder siblings
wai = water
wairua = spirit
whaea = aunty / respectful form of address to a senior woman
whakapapa = ancestry
whakawhanaungatanga = establishing a relationship
whānau = family
whanaungatanga = a pattern of right relationship
whenua = land