​Hui with Ngāti Hako – Whakapaumahara Marae, Whananaki

Kia Ora Whānau, i am very pleased that as a board we continue to provide educational scholarships to registered members studying at a tertiary level.

A total of 41 scholarships were awarded to Ngātiwai tauira for 2018.  Although slightly down on 2017, I was delighted with the number of scholarships that we are able to award this past year.  I am a firm believer in the education of our people, and to be able to assist them on the right path for a prosperous future is exciting for me. 
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It is with pleasure that I am able to share this letter from one of our scholarship beneficiaries, Dakota Sorensen of Whakapaumahara Marae in Whananaki, acknowledging our support in her studies.  I wish Dakota all the best in her studies and her future aspirations.
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Ngā mihi

“Kia Ora Ngāti Wai Trust board,

Ngā Mihi for selecting me to receive a Ngātiwai Trust Board Annual Education Scholarship in 2018 and 2017.  Your generosity means I can support myself through my degree.  This money for the past two years has helped me immensely and has been a huge help throughout my studies.

I am currently in my final semester of a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Screen and Media and minoring in Tikanga Māori.  Once completing this degree I am going into a full year Māori immersion course to learn our beautiful native language - in doing so I will gain a graduate diploma in Te Reo Māori and aim to be able to speak it fluently.  Once completed I hope to then go onto my honours and then apply for a job.  I hope to work in the indigenous film area in New Zealand and other countries and be a part of the story telling.

I have enclosed a recent photo of myself that was taken for my staff photo at the University of Waikato.
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Thank you again for selecting me for the Ngātiwai Trust Board Annual Education Scholarship. Scholarships like these make it possible for Māori students from our Iwi continue to study and earn a degree!
 
Ngā Mihi
Dakota Sorensen”

Kia Tūpato!
Ka tangi a Tūkaiaia kei te moana, Ko Ngātiwai kei te moana e haere ana;
Ka tangi a Tūkaiaia kei te whenua, Ko Ngātiwai kei tuawhenua e haere ana!
 
Beware!
When the Tūkaiaia calls at sea, Ngātiwai are at sea;
When the Tūkaiaia calls inland, Ngātiwai are inland!

The Ngātiwai Trust Board’s logo has been around for about 35 years, and is an iconic symbol of Ngātiwai as an iwi. Many of our uri may not know who designed it.

The design itself depicts the prime Ngātiwai kaitiaki – “Tūkaiaia”. It has an interesting kōrero behind it.
Some say that Tūkaiaia was a now extinct sea hawk, and some say it is a mollymawk, a small compact albatross that flies out at sea in the Ngātiwai rohe moana.

In the Te Ao Hou 1961, our chief talks about the guardian manu in the first two verses of recital of our mōteatea – “Tākina ake rā te taitara ki Motukōkakō. Whakatahia rā te tikitiki o Tū-te-Mahurangi, he manu kawe i ngā ki o Pouerua” “Let the peaks of the waves crash on Motukōkako”. The kōrero then referred to our eponymous tupuna Manaia and his ability to move islands in Motu Kōkakō by feathering them with the tikitiki of Tū-te-Mahurangi, a bird that carries tidings to the pā of Pouerua, near Ohaeawai. Tū being the name of the bird, and kārearea, or kāeaea being a hawk. Hence Tū-kaeaea, or Tūkaiaia.

Traditional kōrero also talks about how this manu accompanied Ngātiwai war parties on the move at land and at sea. It would shriek or tangi to warn Ngātiwai were arriving.

In the 1980’s organisational logos were a new thing. The Board at the time, approached Whangārei based artist Ron de Rooy to design a suitable logo using our Tūkaiaia. He can’t quite recall the details of the brief but said he hoped his design had captured the “strength of the bird, particularly in its wings”

Ron was born in Indonesia in 1934. His family moved back to Holland when he was five where he developed his skills in art by attending Art School in Holland, specialising in design and has been passionate about commercial art all his life. Ron is also an accomplished bone carver and has designed and commissioned many pieces over the years.

Ron spent some time living and working in Holland before moving to New Zealand in 1961.  Ron had two elder brothers living in New Zealand who said it was a great place to live, so they convinced him to move out here with his family and he attests that it was everything that they described it would be.

His early years in New Zealand saw him working for The Northern Advocate newspaper. 

Ron says, "Starting at the Northern Advocate as a photographer was great for someone like me having only just moved to New Zealand”.  It gave me the chance to see here, there and everywhere and gave me a chance to get to know a lot of people throughout Northland and New Zealand.  It was the best job for someone new here.”

He then went on to set up his own printing services business, Baigent Print.  Ron found that business cards and logos were not common in Whangārei when he arrived, so he made this a specialisation of his business, and over the years has seen him design many logos for businesses throughout Northland. Ron has also had a long association with The Quarry where he established Te Kowhai Print Trust.

 “I just love Northland and there is nowhere else that I could see myself living.”

​Now retired, Ron lives on a lifestyle block in Matarau with his wife Colleen.

To recognise Ron’s contribution and design of the the Ngātiwai logo, Ngātiwai Trust Board presented Ron with a Tūkaiaia taonga in the form of the logo that Ron designed all those years ago.

Kris MacDonald says, “The logo which Ron designed 35 years ago has been an iconic representation of who we are as a people and as a tribe.”

“There was controversy at one point in the early 2000s, even to the extent that the design was to be abandoned and replaced by another representation. But the Board and Kaumātua of the time decided they wanted to keep it, It is used today on our stationery, work wear, flags, digital media, communications, business cards – everything”

Ngātiwai also have another Tūkaiaia logo designed by Te Wārihi Hetaraka which sits with Te Au Here O Tūkaiaia – Ngātiwai’s Education Unit. This logo also has pride of place amongst Ngātiwai and will be featured in a future newsletter.
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Kris says, “The Tūkaiaia is one of the most important kaitiaki of Ngātiwai, we always acknowledge it in our mihi, our mōteatea and in our waiata.  I think all those years ago, Ron captured the symbol of it perfectly.  Thank you Ron for your contribution to our iwi.”

The Whakapaumahara Marae in Whananaki were the winners of the Inaugural Dragons’ “Wow Us” Award for their “Whananaki eco-kāinga experience”.

The Dragons Den is an initiative run by The New Zealand Māori tourism Board which this year was held in Napier during August.  The Dragons Den provide a platform where new and existing Māori tourism operators can pitch their ideas in front of the “Dragons”.

The event seen 97 applications across four categories, with Whakapaumahara Marae being one of five group award winners.

The idea that the Whakapaumahara Marae presented is based on a new cultural tourism experience which impressed the Dragons with its aspects of technology, tradition and manaakitanga, as well as its potential to create opportunities for jobs, growth and development for the people of Ngātiwai.

Whananaki eco-kāinga experience team member, Pam Armstrong says, “In our pitch to the Dragons we told them of our vision to provide a range of experiences for visitors that would follow the ancient flight path of the Tūkaiaia (a native bird now extinct), which was our kaitiaki that protected and guided the people of Ngātiwai on their travels from the South to the North along the Ngātiwai coastline.” 

“We will develop walking tracks which will give a four hour coastal walk experience along the pathways our ancestors travelled from Mimiwhangata to Whananaki and back to Whakapaumahara Marae.  We will have modern creative pou that will light up at night using solar energy technologies.  These pou will provide stories and kōrero in the English and Chinese language detailing the celestial and seasonal significance of the lunar calendar and will include walking the Whananaki footbridge that links the North and South of Whananaki.”

“Visitors will also experience a traditional welcome and hākari by the local hapū, Te Whānau Whero, Te Akitai and Ngāti Rehua.”
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The team that travelled down to Napier into the Dragons Den were Hohi Rini, Pam Armstrong, Rorina Rata and Joeann Waata.  The team also acknowledge Hiria Rata, who was not able to travel to Napier for the event.

Team member Hohi Riini says, “We had to go down to this event and “wow” the Dragons as that was the prize we were competing for - The Dragon’s Den Wow Award.”
“We certainly did WOW them!”

The team had three minutes to deliver something that was different, something that will wow the Dragons and put the whakaaro (thoughts and ideas) of their community across. 
“Our wahine who presented our pitch, delivered it fantastically.  They delivered our proposal with pride by looking to our mokopuna, the wairua of our whenua, the wairua of our whanau, our community and our Tūpuna.”

Fellow team member, Rorina Rata says, “I think we won because our pitch was for our marae, competing against a room of established tourism operators.  It was really exciting to see Whakapaumahara Marae come up on the big screen.”

“People were coming up to us and asking, where are you from?  We were really proud to say Whananaki!  So it is great that Whananaki is now on the tourism map.”

“What I think really got to the people in the room that night was that we are marae based, we are hapū based, wanting to working with our iwi and in our community.”

“We are a culturally connected caring community.”

Deputy Chair of NZ Māori Tourism, Dan Walker said, “This idea encapsulated elements of manaakitanga, integrating tribal stories and technology with a range of outdoor and indoor experiences.”

“There was also a strong community aspect supporting the venture. The Dragons believe this venture has very real potential.”

With the funds won, the team will take the Whananaki eco-kāinga experience vision through a feasibility process.  They will be working on identifying and developing pathways to enter the Chinese tourism market and scaling up the business.

From there they want to complete the business model and identify investment pathways from the feasibility planning.

Pam Armstrong says, “The medium to long term outcomes we are seeking are cultural and economic benefits to our whānau at home, who are hugely creative and clever, but have limited employment opportunities.  These whānau have the knowledge of our traditional practices as taught and handed down to them by our tūpuna.” 

“We hope this venture will provide a chance to teach other whānau and hapū members those traditional practices to ensure they are sustained and practiced in the future. We hope it will keep our stories and history alive.”
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“We want whānau to have paid employment from this mahi.  We want them to be recognised as the experts that they are in these practices.  We want our reo to flourish and grow with more using it every day in mahi and at home.  We want our marae to be thriving hubs of energy and innovation, not just a place for traditional ceremonial purpose.  We want whānau to see that there can be thriving livelihoods for those who choose to live on the whenua and know these are viable options for their whanau to live and grow and that they are not sacrificing anything by living on the kainga.”

WINNER:  Tui Brown (see photo below)

From Tui Brown:
"Sunrise in Ngunguru
down Papaka with Rihi Paea,
2018, Photo taken by yours truely"

Enjoy your stay at Oceans Hotel Tutukaka Tui!