December 29, 2013
Ngati Porou focuses on heritage protection
Ngati Porou wants to have more control over archaelogical digging in its rohe.
Chair Apirana Mahuika says Te Runanga o Ngati Porou is compiling a register of heritage sites in its East Coast rohe.
He says the significance of heritage sites, besides the physical nature or form, is their ancestral associations to particular hapu and whanau as well as their ritual and ceremonial uses.
“Heritage sites in Ngati Porou are not confined to pre-European times but also, equally, to the post-European period. This era illustrates Ngati Porou relationships with Pakeha over the years, as well as providing some opportunity for both Ngati Porou and Pakeha to pursue their mixed ancestry – as many of our people do have these kinship ties with other ethnicities.
“Ngati Porou need to have control of these aspects of their history, as every site will have whakapapa ties through tipuna/ancestors’ connections,” Mr Mahuika says.
He says the tribe also needs to take command of archaeology because in the past organisations have dug up taonga and stored it away from the tribe.
“This will ensure we know what has been excavated, and where these will be stored,” he says.
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