Aratoi Wairarapa Museum Of Art And History; Masterton : Exhibition Opening For Wairarapa Moana

He pataka kai, he pataka korero

Stories About A Lake And Its People

Hon Tariana Turia, Co-leader of the Maori Party

Saturday 6 November 2010; 10.30am

I want to firstly thank Pani Himona, the Chair of the Wairarapa Moana Trust, and Gavin McLachlan, the Chair of the Wairarapa Cultural Trust, for the privilege of opening this very important exhibition.

That there is a story to be told about Wairarapa Moana is already evident from the invitation to this event.

We learn that this exhibition has been sponsored by: Wairarapa Moana, Eastern and Central Community Trust, Greater Wellington Regional Council, Kahungunu ki Wairarapa, Masterton Trust Lands Trust, McAuley’s Transport, Newbolds 100% Electrical Masterton and Technology Solutions.

But the invitation goes further, and then lists all of the entities who have supported today: Rangitane, Te Papa Tongarewa, Department of Conservation, Whanganui Regional Museum, National Library of New Zealand, Henley Men’s Shed, Loader Construction Engineering Ltd, Rigg-Zachokke Masterton, The Sign Factor and the Village Art Shop of Greytown.

I wanted to identify all of these organisations – iwi roopu; cultural and heritage institutes; commercial businesses; industries – because it demonstrates just how widespread the support is for this exhibition.

I want to also acknowledge the presence and the influence of the local Member for Wairarapa, John Hayes, and Adrienne Staples, Mayor of South Wairarapa; Ron Mark, Mayor of Carterton; and Garry Daniells, Mayor of Masterton.

The return of the waka taua, Te Heke Rangatira, to the Wairarapa has been a vital marker in your history, and it is extremely positive to see the extent of the support which has culminated in today’s event. It is, indeed, a sign of great promise for your future.

It has not always been so.

As we gather today to demonstrate our respect for the unique history of Lake Wairarapa we do so in the full knowledge that the journey will not be an easy one.

We start, firstly, recognising the huge value that mana whenua accord this lake – an area which comprises the largest wetlands complex in the lower North Island.

Archaelogical evidence shows that many small settlements existed as early as AD 1050. Patterns of habitation have been traced to Rangitane, Ngati Ira and Ngati Kahungunu.

There are also stories relating to visits from Nga Puhi, Te Atiawa, Ngati Tama and Ngati Toa in the 1820s but by 1841 the records are principally of Rangitane and Ngati Kahungunu occupation.

For centuries tangata whenua have cared for the Wairarapa Lakes as a luxurious food basket, overflowing with various species of whitebait, flounder, kokopu, fin fish and water fowl.

But it is the eels that have always been the most important.

In 1890 Alexander Mackay, a judge of the Native Land Court reported on the significance of the eel fisheries to the local Maori economy. In his report, he concluded:

“In the primitive state of life formerly led by the Natives the eel preserves were the most important property they possessed. Eels in olden times not only formed a large article of diet for the natives but they used to dry them in quantities and send them as presents to neighbouring hapus, receiving in return other kinds of food not generally procurable by the donors”.

Of course, 120 years later, I challenge the good Judge’s theory of a “primitive state of life” – especially when we consider the complex entrepreneurial trading that was a feature of those times. Dried eels were a commodity exchanged for pounamu and dried sea fish with groups as far afield as Wellington, Napier and Gisborne.

One of the wonderful legacies of the settlement process is that today we now have access to a rich history of days goneby, through the archives of the Waitangi Tribunal. And so we can trace an intimate knowledge of the workings of the Wairarapa eel fishery from these reports.

We learn that eels were caught by three methods – simply picking them up at night as they slithered across the bar to the sea; by the use of large hinaki (woven eel pots) or by the koumu method whereby eels swam into specially dug ditches in search of salt water. I am really pleased that our Museum at home in Whanganui has loaned some of our traditional eel pots for this exhibition.

Now this is where our story takes a different turn.

While Maori considered Wairarapa Moana of great value, it would be fair to say the settler population viewed it as having considerably less appeal. In fact, they saw the lake as an impediment to their economic advancement.

The lakes were of little use for transport –too shallow to allow the passage of boats, the outlet to Palliser Bay being naturally closed for most of the year.

As more and more Pakeha settlers took up occupation, it was not long before farms were established on lands abutting the lake. Land was needed for pastoral farming but the frequent flooding meant the land was often unusable for several months each year.

In frustration, farmers lobbied Government, seeking their intervention to control or eliminate the flooding of their land.

So by the 1870s the settlers were exerting pressure onto Government to abrogate the rights retained by local Maori that allowed them to close the lakes in order to control the eel fishery.

And from this point on an exhaustive campaign was orchestrated by the Crown to acquire rights to the lake. It was by all accounts, a turbulent period of history, following the 1891 Royal Commission of Inquiry investigating the claims of natives to Wairarapa Lakes.

In May 1892 a confrontation occurred between Maori and the settlers described as 'the Battle of Lake Wairarapa'. There was intense legal action with the Court of Appeal, an appeal to the Privy Council, a petition to the Native Affairs Committee, until eventually an agreement was signed on 13 January 1896 at Papawai.

Initially the agreement was that the owners would receive a grant of land in the Wairarapa. The people were promised a reserve to enable access to the sea and traditional fishing.

But – and this is where it gets really crazy – by the time the deal was concluded in 1908, land in the Wairarapa was considered too expensive.

One wonders what the officials of the Crown were thinking. Did they close their eyes and throw a dart at the map of New Zealand? What could possibly be the justification for vesting a block of land in the lakes owners……at a settlement approximately 300 km away from their own tribal lands?

It simply defies reason. Be that as it may – mana whenua - the rightful owners of Lake Wairarapa – were offered part of the Pouakani Block – near the town of Mangakino.

And so in 1915, an order vesting Arete Tamahau and 229 others was vested in 30,000 acres of the Pouakani Block in the northern King Country. There were no restrictions on alienation.

Eventually some whanau did move north to build on the land which they now had a right of occupation and title granted by the Crown. They built a marae at Mangakino, naming the wharenui Tamateapokaiwhenua after their tupuna, a noted traveller of Takitimu traditions.

Now where all this gets incredibly complex is that the nature of these lands, of course, placed Ngati Kahungunu ki Pouakani in an uneasy relationship with local tangata whenua.

The Wairarapa Exchange as it has sometimes been called, basically added a further complicating factor to a complex series of Crown’s transactions on the Pouakani block; impacting on those who had the ancestral right to these lands as their tribal base.

Meanwhile for those who stayed at home – there was an ongoing source of contention with the Crown. For they had done so with the understanding that the Crown would enable them to access their native tuna fishery and that exotic species would not be introduced.

These commitments were not honoured, and as a consequence the lake and its wildlife have suffered degradation over the years.

The story then became one which could and has been described as an ecological disaster. In the mid 1960s work began on major control and drainage of the lake, resulting in the Ruamahanga Diversion.

So now to the present day – and the story about the lake takes on a new life – with a reputation as an internationally significant but threatened wildlife habitat.

Despite being a breeding, feeding and nesting nursery for rare and endangered native fish, including the long-finned eel and a number of threatened plants, the lake and its wetlands are constantly under siege from the impacts of farming, grazing, pest plants and waste flowing into it from the Ruamahanga River.

And so I come back to the importance of the fourteen metre waka taua which was restored for this exhibition, and returned home to the Wairarapa for the first time since it was taken to the Dominion Museum in 1905.

I want to mihi to Haami Te Whaiti, the Curator Maori, and Marcus Boroughs, the Director of this exhibition, for the vision they had in bringing the waka home.

In a statement issued by Marcus, he described the stories around the lake and its history in the following way:

“By understanding its past we can better manage its future, and perhaps re-establish and revitalise its mana and wairua”.

Te Heke Rangatira was originally a fishing canoe, and was later used to transport people and goods across the nearby Lake Onoke. When we cast our eyes about this waka, we are therefore transported back in times to the early days of contact, and with it the troubled history I have laid out today.

As with all waka, however, they are not meant to be grounded in time; trapped in an undergrowth which restricts their passage forward. And so today, in this exhibition, we celebrate the passage of Te Heke Rangatira – and with it the thriving vitality of the people.

We now have a vision – Wairarapa – Tu tangata whenua: that the Lake Wairarapa wetlands and its surrounds are clean, healthy, shining and alive.

This exhibition signals a new era of awareness for all those associated with Wairarapa Moana. It is time for the tensions to subside, for understanding to emerge, and for a future to be forged for the people of Wairarapa - farmers, the local community, environmentalists, and whanau, hapu and iwi. In sum, it is the right time to re-establish and revitalise its mana and wairua.

I am delighted to open, He pataka kai, he pataka korero – the stories about the lake and the people.

ENDS

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