Map my waahi - discovering our shared heritage→

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In Aotearoa New Zealand, our ancestors all came from another place. Our society is a rich blend of origins, cultures, languages, traditions, religions and foods from all over the world. Early Māori sailed thousands of miles to reach Aotearoa New Zealand. Their routes were preserved in memory or recorded in song. Upon arrival they weaved place names and overland route descriptions into oral histories. These have been passed from generation to generation. Iwi mapping was therefore an oral tradition. The pepeha, for example, is an important form of introduction. It links individuals to their tribal roots and significant landmarks. The forerunner to the Global Positioning System (GPS)!

Join us as we explore the diverse heritage of a classroom, their stories and how they came to Aotearoa New Zealand. Meet with their parents and understand some of the challenges they faced in making this country their home. Your guides will be other students who have been using digital maps to create a record of their origins and the places that support their identity.

A New Reading of Tupaia's Chart, by Anne di Piazza & Erik Pearthree→

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One of the most intriguing artefacts brought back to Europe from Cook’s voyages in the Pacific is a map, Tupaia’s Chart, catalogued in the British Museum as a “Chart of the Society Islands with Otaheite in the center July-Aug 1769”. After decades of close, focused work on Tupaia’s Chart, it still cannot be read as a Mercator projection.

Many islands, even archipelagos seem to be misplaced. Could it be that Tupaia simply failed to solve the problem of converting his view of the Ocean world onto a twodimensional map, with a scale and azimuths?

In this paper, we propose a different reading of his Chart, a reading that is in accordance with how traditional Pacific navigators conceived of their sea environment, i.e., through memorised lists of “relevant pairs of islands plus so-called ‘star courses’ between these islands”. We conclude that Tupaia’s Chart, while having the appearance of a map, is in fact a mosaic of sailing directions or plotting diagrams drawn on paper, similar to those made by master navigators tracing lines in the sand or arranging pebbles on a mat to instruct their pupils.

Tupapa→

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Our ancestors journeyed from Polynesia to Turanganui-a-Kiwa (Gisborne) more than 700 years ago. Tupapa: Our Stand. Our Story is a project to tell our rich, interwoven stories that have been passed down about the first people to navigate to and inhabit this place.

Te Taniwha o Whangapārāoa, Ko te wāhanga Māori nā Roka Paora. Ko te wāhanga Pākehā me ngā whakaahua nā Cathie Penetito Te Wharekura 21→

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Poem about a young boy who sees Cook's ship off the coast of Whangapārāoa (Bay of Plenty) and in running to tell his people, wakes a taniwha. Bilingual.

Tuia Mātauranga - Encounters 250 topic in Science Learning Hub→

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The topic page about Tuia Encounters 250 and Tuia Mātauranga in the Science Learning Hub website. Includes some resources for Tui Kōreroreo: Ngā Pātai.

Roadside Stories by Ministry for Culture and Heritage→

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Roadside Stories is a series of audio guides that follow major road trips in New Zealand. The stories cover the places you’ll pass along the way – their people, their history, their cultural and natural significance.

Hapuakorari - the lost lake→

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Heading southwest from Pukaha (Mt Bruce) there is a place of significance in a small lake that Maori know as Hapuakorari. It has been located near the headwaters of the Ruamahanga River in the Tararua Mountains for time immemorial. Few people have probably even heard of it but for those that have it is hard not to become fascinated. This is in no small part due to the many stories that have been attributed to the lake and the name Hapuakorari. Hapuakorari was said to have been a place of unparalleled beauty, a sacred place shrouded in mysticism. For a start a legendary bird, the Hokio, lived by the lake in the company of the Kotuku (white heron), Huia, Kereru, and Kaka. Living between beautiful Beech and huge Rimu trees were a variety of rare plants, all surrounding a pebbled beach on the water edge. Within the crystal clear waters massive two headed eels swam.

Settlers, Squatters, and Surveyors: Shaping the Canterbury Settlement, 1848-1851→

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An online gallery about the Pākehā settlement of Canterbury with digital images and added description. The gallery includes digitised images of maps, correspondence, survey notes, minutes, and diary entries. Of use to Ngāi Tahu and those studying the colonisation in Canterbury; Kemp’s Deed of 1848.

Provenance of Power – Constitutional Documents→

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A curated online exhibition that features twelve of the most important, historic, and significant constitutional milestones from our holdings. It includes Te Kara (the United Tribes Flag), He Whakaputanga, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, 1839 Letters Patent, the Charter of 1840, the 1852 Constitution Act, the Kohimarama Conference, the Māori Representation Act 1867, the 1893 Women’s Suffrage Petition, and others. Each document is described and available to download. Includes te reo Māori in the documents themselves, but not as part of the learning resource.

Ventnor Project→

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A project documenting the history and memorialisation of the SS Ventnor, which sank in 1902 with the loss of 13 people and the remains of around 500 Chinese men whose bodies were being returned from New Zealand to China for burial. In 2007 members of the early settler Chinese community were told the history of the Ventnor sinking from the Hokianga point of view. They were told that for some time after the sinking in 1902, remains had washed ashore and locals had carefully gathered them up. Some sets of remains were collected by Te Roroa and Te Rarawa, who buried them in their own ancestral burial grounds. A meeting with iwi representatives confirmed this was the case, and that knowledge of the remains and responsibility for care had been passed down from generation to generation to this present day.

The Voyage Out, by John Wilson→

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From the Scottish port of Greenock to Dunedin in New Zealand’s South Island is close to 20,000 kilometres – as far as you could travel to start a new life. By sailing ship, the journey took months. Voyagers endured boredom, terror, and misery, and with only the vast, unpredictable ocean to look at. Many of those who stepped on board owned few possessions, but they had what it took: plenty of courage and hope.

Tupaia's Endeavour, on Māori television→

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A TV series telling the story of Tupaia. Artist Michel Tuffery, historian Paul Tapsell, and actor Kirk Torrance meet with Gisborne and Uawa-Tolaga Bay identities, anthropologist Dame Anne Salmond, waka hourua (twin-hulled voyaging canoe) crew, Tupaia’s descendants and others as they explore the Tahitian’s role during those early encounters in New Zealand.