But what about our stories?
what about our histories about our lives with each other, about how we lived with each other? worked with each other , built roads and schools and homes and sheep yards and fences with each other, ran the committees and Council with each other...married each other, had families, died and were buried with each other?
These first began to emerge with the Sealords case in 1992 when the Runanga challenged the Crown and the tribes of NZ, for a right of access to the fisheries settlement , in its own right.
The Legacy of Roger...
We did this by sending Roger out to sea so that legal advisors for the NZ Maori Council, would not find or reach him, to get him to agree to the settlement that had been agreed to, by the Crown and the tribes of NZ. The Chathams was included in the initial case against the Crown ( known as the Muriwhenua case) through the NZ Maori Council. ( they were members as Chatham Island Maori Committee), and Roger had signed the Claim. All members had to agree to withdraw the case from the High Court, to enable the deal with Carter Holt Harvey , to proceed.
The only way to challenge the deal, was to remain lodged in the High Court...which we did by changing lawyers. If it wasn't for the Runanga doing that, the Chathams would not have access as a seperate zone, as you have now.
The Waitangi Tribunal hearings followed and a host of stories have been told. Islanders talking about who they were, how they lived and what it was really like on the islands. Each is told through their own eyes... as they ought to be...
So why have we got such a mess now now? Why is there such a split in our whanau? What happened?
As the Tribunal hearings completed, I had a sense that our stories were not going to find a rightful place in the outcome. The Runanga immediately applied to the Chief Judge of the Maori Land Court, seeking a determination on who owned the lake bed of the Big Lake. Our request was ignored ..
When the tribunal report was released 8 years later.. we understood why..I had spoken to many experts, inlcuding Professor Alan Ward, on the issues throughout that time of waiting....including trying to understand 'Why are we waiting?'
There has been much written about the report since and much remains unsaid and unresolved.. Micheal Belgrave has written extensively about it and his findings have lead him ........
....' to the conclusion that Ngati Mutunga’s claims have been rejected, and that in doing so the Tribunal mirrors the actions of previous “courts” by handing on a fresh grievance to new generations ...'
You can read more in his book:
Historical Frictions: Maori Claims and Reinvented Histories by Michael Belgrave. Auckland University Press, Auckland. 2005. 388 p. NZ$49.95 (paperback). ISBN 1869403207
It would seem to me that there have been some huge myths created in the name of competition for resources around the Chathams.... And poor old Taranaki got blamed and done in...for it all! well...almost!
Wharekauri?
It's good to see the truth about where the name " Wharekauri " came from--- not from those Taranaki cannibals at all! And yet you will find most modern commentators of our history, attribute the name of Wharekauri, to the Taranaki invaders...the Maori name of Wharekauri and the Moriori name of Rekohu (meaning misty skies).' Wikipedia. The name 'Rerekohua' has gone and yet the translations are different.
' As for the origins of Moriori..Are they really different or just from an earlier migration? .Don't we all whakapapa back to Toi and Whatonga of our Polynesian ancestral geneology? And what of Rauru and Rongo and let's not forget those magical people from Waitaha?
In which case , is what happened to the tribal societies of Wharekauri, any different from that which happened to tribes in NZ as they migrated and settled the lands needed as they grew and sought resources to sustain themselves?
There exists a proliferation of stories by experts on the matter including Wikipedia.....
' It had been thought since the 1800s that the original Moriori arrived directly from more northerly Polynesian islands, which would make the Moriori's fishing rights claim invalid. However, current research indicates that ancestral Moriori were Māori who came to the Chathams from New Zealand about 1500.[4][5][6][7]
As Kerry Howe puts it,
'.Scholarship over the past 40 years has radically revised the model offered a century earlier by Smith: the Moriori as a pre-Polynesian people have gone (the term Moriori is now a technical term referring to those ancestral Maori who settled the Chatham Islands).'[8]
Oh well, they reckon if you cry loud and long enough, you'll get attention.
But I am not convinced that the crying was authentic in reality, truthful in content and historical fact , to warrant a $6 million payout of taxpayer funds for compensation and rehabilitation of what ? and for ...how many people?
Perhaps the root cause of the destruction of our tribal community and the split in our whanau, over the last 30 years, can be found in the policies implemented by those whose quest to gain power and control, using deliberate strategies to seek popular support. These strategies were legitimised by the policies, legislation, regulations and administrative systems, implemented by our electoral processes.
My view is that this is the prime reason for the continuing chaos on the Islands and amongst our whanau. .It rules and divides and leaves a confusion of complex issues that numbs the senses and emotions into a paralysis that cauterises the ability of ordinary people to take action.....what can you really do, to effectively have a say in the governing of the islands, so that you have a better quality of life?
Gosh.!.. so many things go on without our knowing about them, don't they!
The only way out of the conflicts that plague our whanau, is for all groups to meet, to korero for as long as it takes, with a person who knows the rules and will do what is right for us, until we find a way forward ...TOGETHER..
Thank goodness we have the Cheif Justice of Nuie, who is also a judge in the High Court of the Cook Islands and a retired Cheif Judge of the Maori Land Court , as the Runanga Chairman...
Maybe he can sort this all out....If he can't , well, I'll have to ring up God next time....
Oh..did I tell you? he is of Mutunga whakapapa... cool dude ...don't forget to feed him well when he comes home to the Chathams !
He is the first person we have had who is a strong advocate with credibility that those who govern the islands, will listen to. Lets ask him to lead us through the tangled scrub of the past years, to find a pathway forward for all., while we still have him...
That would be a great legacy for us all to leave for our mokopuna..
We are kaitiaki of the Papatuanuku.. of our papakainga... of our whenua...
cheers Evelyn
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