New Zealand Waka and Voyaging
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HAWAIKINUI
The programme features interviews with Allen Whakataka-Brightwell and Greg Whakataka-Brightwell who built the "Hawaiikinui" canoe, and sailed it from Tahiti to New Zealand by traditional Maori navigational methods. These three video excerpts are from the TVNZ series KOHA, first broadcast 13th April, 1986. Video supplied by the NZTV Archives.
 Part one: Origins of the waka.
Shows the carvers working on Hawaiikinui canoe in large open shed in Pahiatua 1981. Greg Whakataka-Brightwell was the originator of the six year project to build canoe and navigate from Tahiti to Aotearoa by the stars, and Greg explains the reasons for undertaking project.
Part two: The Voyage.
Greg talks about the voyage from Moorea in Tahiti. The waka's crew was truly international and the waka built to a traditional design only a few modern materials.
Part three: The Ancestors Were Right.
Greg reflects on the kinds of marine and bird life seen on the voyage. The signs of land noticed at sea and the use of traditional star navigation skills confirmed ancestral beliefs and disproved old scholastic beliefs about migration to New Zealand. Greg hopes the voyage will encourage non-violent endeavour amongst young Maori people and will forge new links in the 21st Century amongst Maori and Polynesians.
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HECTOR BUSBY
These two excerpts profile Hector Busby (Hekenukumai Puhipi) and his contribution to the seafaring wakas of New Zealand. Visit the Te Aurere website
http://www.teaurere.co.nz/ to learn more about the learning opportunities being offered by his Wananga. The programme is from the TVNZ Marae series, first broadcast on 16th May, 1993. Video supplied by the NZTV Archives.
Part one: Mataatua & Te Aurere.
Ocean-going Maori waka are sailing on the seas again. Hector talks about the ocean going waka tradition in New Zealand and its importance to Maoritanga. We see bulldozers dragging a giant felled tree out of the forest, destined to become the hull for a waka and then its launching day and the plans for Te Aurere, a double hulled waka built by Hector Busby which was sailed to Rarotonga.
Part Two: Modern Waka Construction.
Beginning with photos of the 1989 ceremony, selection and felling of the tree destined to become Te Aurere, the chosen waka to sail to Rarotonga, Hector Busby and fellow Maori build the waka. Hector talks about using ancient Maori voyaging and navigational skills.. He marks out on land a star navigation compass for his students to learn from. The double hulled waka Te Aurere sails on the open sea, using rudder and sail.
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NAVIGATION
This programme features Hawaiian navigator Nainoa Thompson and takes a look at the heritage of Polynesian celestial navigation and its importance in Maori culture today. These three excerpts are from the TVNZ series MARAE, first broadcast on 4th July, 1993. Video supplied by the NZTV Archives.
Part One: Traditional Navigation.
Learning to read the weather, the sea, the sun and the stars are key to navigating the Pacific by traditional methods. Hector Busby and young Maori work to prepare a star compass on land as a teaching aid for celestial navigation. Nainoa Thompson plotting a navigation map with compass and ruler, watched by Hector Busby and young Maori. Nainoa Thompson places the discovery of Polynesian heritage in relation to personal cultural and national pride.
Part Two: Polynesian Navigators.
Illustrations of Polynesian sailing vessels and waka, footage from ocean voyages support Nainoa Thompson's views on the significance of Polynesian voyaging and exploration heritage.
Part Three: The Living Knowledge.
At the 1992 Rarotongan Festival of the Arts, we see the arrival of many Polynesian waka. Nainoa Thompson trains young Maori students in old navigational techniques and celestial navigation. Charlie Wilson, Tai Tokerau, explains how important Polynesian seafaring knowledge is to Maori history, traditions and revival of ancient seafaring knowledge.
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CANOE
This programme takes a look at the Waka Moana Symposium which saw a gathering of traditional Polynesian canoes at Auckland Maritime Museum in 1996. Ismael John, Marshall Islands senator, relates how few people retain the old knowledge to pass it on. Hector Busby, captain Te Aurere, is pleased that there are now two traditional navigators from Aotearoa, and Haki Thatcher hopes that young people will train on board Te Aurere. This excerpt is from TVNZ's Tangata Pacifika series broadcast on 7 April 1996. Video supplied by the NZTV Archives.
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Maori Connections in Polynesia
The origins of the Polynesians can be considered in the context of two questions. The first question is which islands were the immediate homeland of the Maori. The second broader question what were the origins of the Polynesians? This presentation was written by Ranginui Walker and Rawiri Taunui and is reproduced with their permission.
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Waka Traditions: Some Post-Fleet Considerations
Waka traditions are accounts of arrivals, dispersal and settlement. They tell of how tribes came into being and occupied their tribal lands. They not only explain origins but are also expressions of mana and identity. They define territorial boundaries and intertribal relationships. They merge poetry and politics, history and myth, fact and legend. This article written by Rawiri Taonui, covers the arrival traditions of Maori from Kupe to modern day waka traditions and identity.
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The Navigational Methods and Exploration Strategies of the First Settlers of the Pacific Ocean
The Pacific was the World's first ocean to be explored and settled by humans. This happened in two major episodes. The first occurred between approximately 50.000 and 30,000 BC during the late Pleistocene period, when water crossings were made from mainland Asia through a chain of large and close islands stretching towards Australia and New Guinea, which were then joined together at that time of low Ice-Age sea level. The second major episode of colonisation began after 1500 BC in modern geological times, and after millennia of maritime developments in Island Southeast Asia and western Melanesia. Highly skilled navigators took sophisticated outrigger and double-hulled sailing canoes out into the remote Pacific Ocean. This paper is courtesy of Geoffrey Irwin.
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Maori Waka Image Gallery
This is a collection of photos and etchings of a variety of 1800's and early 1900's Maori waka and races. Images courtesy of the Alexander Turnbull Library.
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Historic Canoes of the Maori & Moriori people 925-1350 AD
This geneology website lists all known waka arrivals in Aoteoroa. The site gives the Year, Canoe Name, Commander and Priest, the known Departure Point, where the waka landed and where the groups settled. Resource: ŠTe Rangi Hiroa, Sir Peter Buck (K.C.M.G., D.S.O., M.A., Litt.D., M.D., Ch.B.)., "The Coming of the Maori"., (1949)., Whitcombe & Tombes Ltd., Chch.
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Te Aurere Home Page
Te Tai Tokerau Tarai Waka (Inc) was founded in 1989 with the purpose of building waka (canoe) for the 150 anniversary of the Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. To date it has been responsible for the construction of three waka taua ( war canoe) and Te Aurere a Waka Hourua ( double hulled ocean going canoe ). There are plans for a second waka hourua to be constructed in the near future. This award winning website is a great source of information about the waka voyaging and star navigation educational and current project activities.
- Waka
There are four main types of Waka in Aotearoa and they all have a particular use. This page has a short history of each one.
- Heke Busby
Follow the waka pioneering career Hekenukumai Puhipi (Hector Busby) - the rangatira of waka construction in the Far North of Aotearoa.
- Te Aurere
This waka hourua (double hulled ocean going canoe) was built in 1991 along traditional lines from two giant kauri trees hauled from the Herekino State Forest This page tells the story of the building, launching and voyages of Heke Busby's waka.
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Tairawhiti Museum
The Tairawhiti Museum's National Heritage Project has its origins in an initiative to recognise the heritage significance of the area surrounding the mouth of the Turanganui River in Gisborne. The Tairawhiti/Eastland Region of New Zealand has long been the preserve of many unique qualities - the special geographic location as the first region to see the sunrise, the landing place of a canoe from the Great Migration, the singular event in history of the first landing site in New Zealand of a European explorer and the initial meetings of Maori and European cultures.
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