By Pokere Paewai
Two new exhibitions opening at Te Papa celebrate waka voyaging and the people who have kept the knowledge alive.
He Kaupapa Waka Waka taua at Waitangi 2020. Photo: Supplied / Te Rawhitiroa Bosch via Te Papa
The art of oceangoing navigation fell into disuse for over 600 years but thanks to the commitment of several master navigators it was able to make a comeback.
Before dawn yesterday several hundred people were welcomed onto Rongomaraeroa Marae at Te Papa Tongarewa.
Tā Hekenukumai Ngāiwi Busby. Photo: Supplied / Te Rawhitiroa Bosch via Te Papa
They came to celebrate the history and knowledge of waka voyaging, and to remember those who paved the way for its revival, such as the late Tā Hekenukumai Ngāiwi Busby.
His whānau were among those in attendance, bringing his kawe mate on to the wharenui, Te Hono ki Hawaiki.
Te Papa Mātauranga Māori head Migoto Eria paid tribute to the work done by Tā Hek.
"Waka hourua building and navigating the Pacific without technology hadn't been done for such a long long time.
"Until Tā Hekenukumai Busby, who was a bridge builder in the far north, started building bridges across the Pacific with not only waka building but also navigation."
The two exhibitions are side by side, in the first Manu Rere Moana visitors can learn about waka hourua, double-hulled sailing waka, and the mātauranga of celestial navigation.
The second, He Kaupapa Waka, displays photos of waka taua, war canoes, alongside Tinana and Mamari the last waka taua carved by Tā Hek before his passing.
Te Rawhitiroa Bosch. Photo: Supplied / Te Papa
Te Rawhitiroa Bosch, who created and curated the He Kaupapa Waka exhibition, encourages people to get involved with waka.
"If you ever get an opportunity to connect with waka, waka taua, waka tētē, waka hourua, take that opportunity. Because it connects us directly with our tūpuna."
Te Rawhitiroa said it was also important for visitors to see the difference between the types of waka on display.
"The real important thing is actually having waka hourua and waka taua side by side, so finally people can understand that we didn't paddle all the way here from Hawaiki. We sailed, and then when got here [waka taua] are the waka that came from it."
Master waka navigator Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr, said that awareness and acceptance of Māori navigating prowess was growing, but many were still unaware of the scientific knowledge behind it.
"We still have people who don't understand that this kind of mātauranga actually encompasses all different types of knowledge, science and all those kinds of things.
"They just think it's a bunch of people just get on a canoe and decide today we're gonna sail somewhere."
Hoturoa said it was now the job of the navigators who remained to fulfil the dreams of those who had died.
"Their dream was that this mātauranga which was on the verge of extinction, doesn't become extinct again.
"So our job is to get it out there, and this exhibition and the trainee navigators and sailors we've got now are the pathway to fulfilling that."
Ngahiraka Mai Tawhiti at Te Hau Kōmaru Festival 2022. Photo: Supplied / Maine Tito via Te Papa
Manu Rere Moana will become a permanent part of Te Papa's mana whenua space, and He Kaupapa Waka is set to run well into next year.
Visitors to the exhibition are encouraged to interact with the display, whether that's touching the carved hoe, or smelling the fragrant kauri wood chips.
A future kaihoe rushes in with his mother as Ngatokimatawhaorua comes ashore at Waitangi for the 80th anniversary of its launch in 1940. Photo: Supplied / Te Rawhitiroa Bosch via Te Papa
Eria said that Te Aurere-iti, a one-third-size replica of the waka that sailed from Aotearoa to Rarotonga, is a good example of an exhibit the community can engage with.
"Te Aurere-iti was on a plinth, behind a barrier for such a long time. And the wish of the community was for it to be a functioning waka, but for people to engage with it.
"So we've gotten rid of the plinth, moved it out, brought it to a certain height so people can touch and engage."
The whole waka hourua and waka taua community has come together to celebrate the taonga and knowledge of waka, a tradition that is still being secured for the future.
