Sidestep: What can you claim as yours?

I admire Ngai Tahu. They are a tribe who has done extremely well with what they have. They received a settlement of $170 million in 1999 for grievances relating to the sale of land they claimed as theirs after taking it without compensation from those before them. Well ok, that was the way of it back then. Survival of the fittest is why Ngai Tahu exists at all. But they took the money the settlement offered and have done good with it compared to some other tribes who have squandered and wasted much of what they settled for. Ngai Tahu then, had much wisdom in moving south, and much wisdom in settling their claim with the Waitangi Tribunal early. Their investments are solid, their leadership strong, and they are determined to preserve the Waitaha rock art at the over 600 recorded locations so far.

Ngai Tahu clearly state the correct history - that they conquered the Kati Mamoe in the 17th century who had done the same to Waitaha a 100 years or so earlier. Many may not know that Ngai Tahu was originally a North Island tribe. The claims they have to the South Island are only ones that can be acknowledged as having a mere 140 years of history at best, before the treaty. Yet the South Island was inhabited 800 ago by most common accepted reckoning, and much older in reality.

I see many sites where Ngai Tahu claim the rock drawings are part of their tipuna (their ancestral history). After 140 years of history how can you claim they are your ancestors when your true ancestors are still buried in the North Island, the place Ngai Tahu flourished for 600+ years before they migrated south... (actually forced to leave by war - as was common then).

Here is an extract from a government website and then a Ngai Tahu website:

After calling incantations to the gods, Paikea was saved by a whale, which brought the young chief to New Zealand on its back. Paikea settled with the people at Whāngārā on the East Coast of the North Island. From this ancestor stem the two tribes of Ngāi Tahu and Ngāti Porou. Tahupōtiki, from whom Ngāi Tahu take their name, was descended from the legendary ancestor Paikea and Hemo ki-te-Raki. It is here that we enter the realm of human history. Largely because of internal struggles between Ngāi Tahu and their kin, Ngāi Tahu migrated further south to Wellington and settled the area with the related tribes, Ngāti Ira and Ngāti Māmoe. Hostilities eventually broke out, and in the early 18th century some Ngāi Tahu, led by Pūraho and his sons Maru and Mako, left the North Island for Te Wai Pounamu (the South Island). Here they established a beachhead in the northern end of the island at Kaihinu pā, in Tory Channel. They had been preceded south by Ngāti Māmoe.

Ignoring the whale, because that is impossible - have a look at the wording. They established a 'beachhead'. Do you know what a beachhead is? It is this: “a defended position on a beach taken from the enemy by landing forces, from which an attack can be launched.” There was no “Hi cuz, can we join you?” type of arrival. They had to take it by force. That is borne out by the brutal Maori to Maori conflict all the way up to before Europeans arrived. Please do not think Maori were ever a unified group of common people with one purpose. They fought, took slaves, murdered, cooked and ate their enemies, and conquered tribal areas like any other race of humans in history. They collectively have a rich, colourful and extremely complex history, but at no time were they unified after about the year 1500 when their numbers grew. If you disagree with that statement then ask yourself why Ngapuhi could obtain muskets and systematically murder 60,000 Maori around the North Island. Maori on Maori.

Now here is the Ngai Tahu extract of their history:

The Ngāi Tahu people have their origins in three main streams of migration. The first of our people to arrive in the southern islands migrated here under the leadership of Rākaihautū on the waka (canoe) Uruao. They arrived in Whakatū, Nelson and proceeded to explore and inhabit the South Island. This is the origin of the Waitaha iwi, who named the land and the coast that borders it. The second wave of migration was undertaken by the descendants of Whatu Māmoe who came down from the North Island’s east coast to claim a place for themselves in the south. These descendants came to be known as Kāti Māmoe and through inter-marriage and conquest these migrants merged with the resident Waitaha and took over authority of Te Waipounamu.

Note that they say their origins have three main streams. That is only true of those who, through intermarriage, can trace their ancestors back through three distinct whakapapa. To say 'our people arrived in the Uruao' (that is a migration canoe for those that don't know) is like saying that because I married a Chinese girl, my children's ancestor was Chu Hsi. My child might be able to say that, but I can't because my line has no direct link blood wise. You have to prove your personal whakapapa back to Waitaha to say they are your people. Ngai Tahu cannot claim a blanket link without knowing and proving whakapapa because Ngai Tahu are direct descendants of Ngai (Kai) Tahu that came south from teh Northern Island. Maybe a few can, but I'd like to see it written down somewhere...and verified by those who see themselves as Waitaha decent more than Ngai Tahu. Can Ngai Tahu, while looking after all southern ancient native affairs, which is admirable and correct and being the rightful modern guardians by assimilation - claim spiritual authority over the relics of those they came to conquer? It would be like China claiming to be the spiritual heart of Tibet because they conquered it. When the Romans conquered what is now Britain, many married locals and lived there. But they didn’t claim to be Celts, or Belgae’s, or the Parisi. They were Romans and it was now a Roman colony. To the credit of the Romans they actually allowed local customs to exist as long as obedience to Rome was acknowledge – or so we are told. But I digress.

Ngai Tahu did not accept distinct Kati Mamoe culture for long, nor did they allow what was left of Waitaha to exist. It was absorb - or die. You have to remember these people came south ready to do battle to gain land. That's what Maori did, they always fought. They didn't apply in the local newspaper for a place to rent. Find out about the Hawea, hunted to destruction for many years for defying what was then Kai Tahu (in the southern dialect). Ngai Tahu say Waitaha has all died out. Died out or killed? Kati Mamoe were no angels either and they dealt to the invading Ngai Tahu a few times before finally being subdued.

Now consider that Maori have been in NZ, as a whole, for a supposed 800 years. Yet in 600 of the first years, only Waitaha was in the south. (The Waitaha of the North Island say they came in the Takitimu in 1350, but the original Waitaha people were in the south since about 800AD) The culture, art, tools and way of life of the Waitaha are vastly different to that of the northern Maori tribes. They even looked physically different. But why did the northern Maori take so long to come to the south? Was it because the Waitaha were too strong? I’m not sure, for Waitaha were supposed to be a peaceful people.

However, being peaceful doesn’t mean rolling over and dying like the Moriori did when Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Tama came, murdering and enslaving them. These two North Island tribes just did what all Maori did where they met an inferior force - they killed and enslaved them. (Maori, up until about 1870 kept slaves in the same way white people did of Africans. Maori kept slaves, but they often kept them for the ovens too. Now, that is just accepted history and it shows Maori are no different to other human beings around the world for most races have shown cruelty at one time or another). However, some believe the Moriori were once on the mainland and being peaceful, like the Waitaha, were forced out around 1400 and left never to be seen again until a whaler found the Chatham Islands populated in 1791. That is why Moriori art and culture are different. Also, because they had no enemies, killing would have horrified them.

But Waitaha’s peaceful ways did not mean lack of defence. There is a stark difference between peacekeepers and peacemakers. Waitaha were peacemakers when they needed to be, that meant defending. But eventually Kati Mamoe subdued them. (Maybe that was by initial befriending and intermarrying, but that is the slow and complete way to destroy any people and is why Islam in the modern era is so powerful. Britain now is more Islamic than Iran, a Muslim nation, was in 1968. Say anything bad about them and you are labelled quickly. But back in the old days you were just dealt to. Anyway, I hope you see my point).

Why New Zealanders with only 12% Maori lineage claim that Maori is their strongest identity. It isn’t. But its the roots they focus on. But if more than 50% of you is another race, that is where your real roots lie. You have identification, but the roots are where your strongest DNA lies, or is it? However, if you are 51% or more Maori lineage, you as a true descendant of those who call themselves Tangata Whenua.

Now, if anyone in this land can call themselves Kati Mamoe and can cite their whakapapa in proof of it, they are not Ngai Tahu, you are Kati Mamoe. If you can trace your whakapapa back to Waitaha times you are not of Ngai Tahu decent, you are of Waitaha decent. But some will say there has been so much interbreeding that there is no longer a distinct Kati Mamoe line - no longer a true Waitaha line.

That may be the case, and if it is...then it is also true that there are no true 'Maori' in existence anymore. There are part-Maori and that's it. A Tahitian who has 6.25% Dutch blood does not call himself a European. A European in NZ, whose ancestors arrived in 1830, would have more original heritage as a European than most who identify as Maori. This is just mathematic generational genetics.

In spite of all that, my belief is that Waitaha should be acknowledged, legally, as a separate nation for those who can trace their whakapapa back beyond Kati Mamoe days.

Waitaha designs