Archive

This page is an archive of the information we shared for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori in previous years.

MATUA BOBBY NEWSON

Te Reo Māori is at the heart of Māori identity

It frames and communicates a Māori way of knowing, seeing and being. It expresses and transmits mātauranga Māori, Māori world views and knowledge systems. Te Reo Māori is the indigenous language of Aotearoa and a precious taonga protected by the Treaty of Waitangi and the Māori Language Act. It is the language of Aotearoa, New Zealand’s, unique cultural identity.

To thrive as a language, te Reo Māori needs a critical mass of fluent speakers of all ages and the respect and support from wider English-speaking and multi-ethnic New Zealand communities. Public institutions and civic spaces like ours at Tāmaki Paenga Hira are in an ideal position to contribute to the revitalisation of te Reo Māori every day – strengthening our unique cultural identity for all New Zealanders. All of Aotearoa wins when the Māori language thrives.

Tāmaki Paenga Hira, Auckland Museum, joins with wider Aotearoa in celebrating Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2020 as an opportunity for concentrated celebration, promotion and encouragement of te Reo Māori. You can find some of the special events, taonga and activities we have planned for our visitors onsite and online for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2020.

Ko te reo te mauri o te mana Māori
Ko te kupu te mauri o te reo Māori
E rua ēnei wehenga kōrero e hāngai tonu ana ki runga i te reo Māori
Ko te reo, nō te Atua mai

The language is the life force of the mana Māori
The word is the life force of the language
These two ideas are absolutely crucial to the Māori language
A language, which is a gift to us from the creator

^{Sir James Henare – Waitangi Tribunal Hearings, 1985, Wai 11.}

KAIMAHI SPOTLIGHT

Heidi Brickell

Ka ai te waka Matahourua ki te toka tū moana a Te Rerenga o Te Aohuruhuru, ā ka kake ake ahau,

Ka huri whakatetonga tōku kānohi, i reira tūtaki ai te awa Mataikona ki te Moana-nui-ā-Kiwa,

Ka whai ōku kānohi i te takutai, ka huri whakatetokerau, i reira rere ai te awa Owahanga,

E karapoti ana aua wai i tōku papakāinga a Te Hika o Papauma.

Koiā hoki te ingoa o te marae, ko Kupe te tangata,

E here ana ō mātou aho ki a Kahungunu, rātou ko Rongomaiwahine, ko Rangitāne, ko Apakura,

Ko Cindy Grace tōku whaea, Ko Mark Brickell tōku pāpā,

Ko Heidi Brickell ahau.

He aho taua pēpēhā mai ōku toto tāwhito rawa atu i tau mai ki tēnei whenua i te waka Matahourua, i te taha o tōku whaea. Kaare ia i whāngai ai i te reo Māori ki au, kaare i a ia te reo, ā ehara tōna aronga ki ngā mātauranga, ko tōna aronga katoa ko te manaaki tangata. I reira ka rangona ai tōna Māoritanga. E hua ake pea tōku aho Māori mā taku wairua mahira, wairua auaha me tōku hiakai ki te mātauranga.

I a au he tamaiti noa kua kā taku roro ki te reo Māori. He reo tuarua ki au. Ka ako ahau ki te kaute tae atu ki te kōtahi rau, ā ka mīharo au i te kitenga he rerekē te whakatakotoranga o ngā whakaaro i te reo Māori ki te whakatakotoranga o ngā whakaaro i te reo Pākehā. Ahakoa e rite ana ngā nama, he rerekē te raupapa me te hāngai o ngā whakaaro. Kua tākaro tōku hinengaro i taua paku māramatanga arā ngā tikanga kaute anō nei he paraka ‘Lego’. Read the rest of Heidi's story here.

_{That pēpēhā links me back through my mother to an ancient time, the bones of remnants of stories which reside on the land described there. She didn’t teach me to speak Māori, she didn’t know how, and wasn’t particularly interested in learning. She expressed her Māoritanga through her relational orientation, her inclusive nature and her love for people. I think that whakapapa expresses itself more through me in curiosity, creativity and playfulness with knowledge.}

_{I was always drawn to te reo Māori as a child. Even learning to count to a hundred, I was fascinated by how its building blocks put things together differently than English did. So, you could say te reo engaged my mind like a Lego set. Read the rest of Heidi's story here.}

MUSEUM MAHI

Giving te reo names to 100,000 natural sciences specimens

The Museum's Natural Sciences team has embarked on a massive project to give te reo Māori names to over 100,000 specimens. But what happens when a speciman has seven names in te reo?

Severine Hannam, Collection Manager, Natural Sciences discusses the project and the big hurdles they have ahead.

BLOG

Let's Get Reo: the role of cataloguing in creating equitable access

Addressing the lack of te Reo Māori in our institutions is not as easy as simply translating words - we have to revise the very principles we use to organise knowledge. In this blog, Nina Whittaker, Cataloguing Librarian, and Geraldine Warren, Māori Resources & Mātauranga Advisor, shine a light on the role of cataloguing in the decolonisation project.

BLOG

Naming rights

Since the Age of Enlightenment, scientists have named new species according to strict taxonomic guidelines, guidelines they themselves developed. But knowing what we know now about the insidiousness of colonisation, we should ask ourselves who has the right to bestow official scientific names. To mark Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, Assistant Curator of Entomology Leilani Walker (Whakatōhea) reflects on the history—and future—of using te reo in scientific names.

MUSEUM MAHI

Online Cenotaph & Collections Online te Reo Translations: How did we do?

For last year's Te Wiki o te Reo Māori the Museum launched translated te reo interfaces for Collections Online and Online Cenotaph, aiming to broaden the accessibility of the Museum’s online collections. Since then there has been over 120,000 views of the Museum’s online collections in te reo, but we wanted to take a deeper dive and evaluate the project and find out how effective it has been. Earlier this year we worked with Kāhui Tautoko Consulting to survey users about the translation project, and you can find out more about their feedback and some recommendations for further work in this blog post.

A big thanks to InternetNZ for providing the funding for both the initial translation project and the follow up evaluation.

TAONGA ON DISPLAY 14 – 20 Mahuru 2020

Atarangi – Michael Parekowhai

During Māori Language Week, visitors to the Museum have a special opportunity to view these taonga from the Museum’s collection in person, created by artist Michael Parekowhai called Atarangi. The giant Cuisenaire rods will be on display in the heart of our Māori galleries in front of the pātaka Te Puawai o Te Arawa.

Originally used to teach maths in the 1970s, Cuisenaire rods are now used to teach te Reo Māori in schools, communities, and workplaces all over Aotearoa through a method called Te Ataarangi. Dr Katerina Mataira (Ngāti Porou) and Ngoi Pewhairangi (Ngāti Porou) developed the Te Ataarangi language teaching method with Cuisenaire rods to teach te Reo Māori. The rākau (rods) can be used as visual symbols for numbers or colours, or can be arranged in pictograms. The number of people learning te Reo Māori is growing and keeps our language strong. Our staff at Tāmaki Paenga Hira have relished learning te Reo Māori through the Te Ataarangi method.

The colours of the rākau are represented in the colours of the national theme for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori and the ‘Kia Kaha te Reo Māori’ logo to symbolise the elements of language revitalisation and revitalisation of te Reo Māori.

Ko Te Pataka o te Mātāpuna o te whare pupuri taonga o Tāmaki Paenga Hira e mau ana i ngā kāhui whakaahua Māori miharo rawa atu. Ko Phillip Paea te kaitoi, i whakaputa i te tau 1986 nā Cabbage Tree Publications.

Auckland Museum’s Library holds a wonderful te Reo Māori poster series illustrated by Phillip Paea and published in 1986 by Cabbage Tree Publications.

Clothing

Educational poster for learning te Reo Māori. Illustrations and translations relating to types of clothing.

Part of the Documentary Heritage Collection, EPH-PT-4-57.

Greetings

Educational poster for learning te Reo Māori. Illustrations and translations relating to greetings between individuals.

Part of the Documentary Heritage Collection, EPH-PT-4-58.

Weather

Educational poster for learning te Reo Māori. Illustrations and translations relating to weather.

Part of the Documentary Heritage Collection, EPH-PT-4-59.

Colours

Educational poster for learning te Reo Māori. Illustrations and translations relating to colours.

Part of the Documentary Heritage Collection, EPH-PT-4-60.

People

Educational poster for learning te Reo Māori. Illustrations and translations relating to what to call people.

Part of the Documentary Heritage Collection, EPH-PT-4-61.

Aro - Live from the Museum

For Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2020, Tāmaki Paenga Hira hosted Aro, for an evening of waiata and kōrero via Facebook Live. A special event to support the regeneration of te Reo Māori in Aotearoa.

Watch the recording of the livestream that took place on Wed 16 Sep.

No hea koe? In the world of te Reo Māori

Beamed to you from the beautiful He Taonga Māori gallery inside Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum, this young panel of reo enthusiasts will provide food for thought during this kōreroreo, and potentially even inspire others to begin or advance their own te reo journey.

Watch the recording from the Facebook livestream that took place on Mon 14 Sep.

FROM THE COLLECTION

A favourite te reo Māori book

Geraldine Warren, Māori Resources & Mātauranga Advisor, writes about one of her favourite books in our collection, written in te Reo Māori.

I roto i te whare pukapuka a Tāmaki Paenga Hira tetahi pukapuka tino whakahirahira. Ko te ingoa a tēnei pukapuka, ko Te Atea tērā. Ko Kāterina Mataira (1932-2011) te tino kaituhi, nā Paratene Matchitt ngā whakaahua pikitia. Ki āku nei whakaaro, he toki huna ia, he wahine tuhi kōrero, he manu kōrero hoki ko Kahurangi Katerina Te Heikoko Mataira. He pukapuka tamariki tāna. I tino ahua māmā noa iho ngā kupu engari tino hōhonu rawa atu te whai whakaaro.

Me tirohia ki tētahi wāhanga
Ko ētahi he wāhine
Ko ētahi he tāne
Ko ētahi he tamariki

Ko ētahi he māori
Ko ētahi he mangu
Ko ētahi he hainamana
Ko ētahi he pākehā

E kimi tahi ana
E hanga tahi ana
E noho tahi ana

Tino ātaahua, rawa hoki. Ko te tino ohia ka taea tōku reo māmā o nāianei kia tupu ai ki te reo rangatira. Kia kaha te Reo Māori!

Abstract: Shout out to Māori Language week. Within Auckland War Memorial Museum collections is a wonderful publication for school children written by Katerina Mataira (1932-2011) and illustrated by Para Matchitt. Although the words are simple, the meanings are deep and powerful. Dame Katerina Mataira was a skilled author and orator who revealed beauty and ugliness seamlessly.

Tūrama mō Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2020

Lighting the Museum for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2020

Tāmaki Paenga Hira is supporting the Te Taura Whiri o te Reo Māori, Māori Language Commission, national theme of ‘Kia Kaha te Reo Māori’ for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2020. We often talk about languages as if they are people – talking about language health, strength and revitalisation. So when we say ‘Kia Kaha te Reo Māori’ we’re saying – ‘Let’s make the Māori language strong’.

Strength for an endangered language comes from its status, people being aware of how to support revitalisation, people acquiring and using it and from the language having the right words and terms to be used well. We are lighting up the Museum for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori to support raising awareness and uplifting the mana of te Reo Māori in the colours of the ‘Kia Kaha te Reo Māori’ logo which features a contemporary interpretation of the Hei Tiki – an icon that depicts and evokes messages and themes of strength, leadership, nurture and pride within our nation.

The colours represent the rākau used in teaching the Ataarangi method, familiar now to decades of school children and adults. The colours in the tongue of the Hei Tiki represent the elements of revitalisation (status, critical awareness, acquisition, use and corpus) and revitalisation of te Reo Māori.

Monday 13 September until Sunday 19 September

He aha tētahi āhuatanga ōrite ō ēnei mea?

He poi no tētahi kiri ō te ika
Ko te Pukapuka Robinson Crusoe i roto i te Reo Māori
Ko tētahi māikaika e mohio ana ki te Reo Māori

Ko ēnei mea Katoa, ko ngā taonga no Tāmaki Paenga Hira.
E rapu ana mātou i ngā kōrero hononga ki ēnei taonga Kia
whakanui mātou i Te Wiki o te Reo Māori.

What do a poi made of fish skin, an orchid that understands te reo and a copy of Robinson Crusoe translated into Māori all have in common?

They’re all precious taonga from Auckland Museum’s collections, which we’re learning more about as part of Te Wiki o te Reo Māori!

Take a look at this exclusive journey through some of the most fascinating objects in our collections.

Your Museum