The Relationship between Maori and Land

Tu Tangata, Issue 8, 1 October 1982, Page 25

The Relationship between Maori and Land

Oth form winners

‘‘He wahine, he whenua, i mate ai te tangata”.

The strength of Maori conviction that man must fight to the death for women

and land is indicative of his attitude towards these two most important Godgiven assets. As a woman is the bearer of life, so too is land the giver and preserver of life. From earliest awareness a Maori then has an inalienable relationship with his land to which he feels he owes his very existence.

The relationship between the Maori and land is stronger now than ever before. In the past the primary motive for acquiring more land was to make new homes when inhabited areas became overcrowded. The original ownership of land was dictated by discovery and occupation. Maori chiefs who discovered land placed a personal tapu on it. The land was named after some part of their bodies so others were deterred from claiming it.

Maori people living in country places still value land as demonstrated by the Maori Land March from Te Hapua to Wellington in 1975 which was led by Dame Whina Cooper. Land is the most important asset that the Maori can have in terms of providing a good stable home for their children, making a good living and keeping contact with relatives living and dead. The Maori in the city grows up often ignorant of the significance of land. Land does not come immediately to their attention as they mostly live in state homes owned by the Government. As Apirana Taylor says, many who might have been our leaders got killed overseas * and for what So we could live in quarteracre sections Land was and still is sacred to the Maori. Each tribe had its own territory and tribal history is written over its hills, rivers and lakes. It is embedded in place names and the legends surrounding them. The earth and the caves hold the bones of the dead. A right to tribal land gives a person a turangawaewae and the right to speak on the marae.

The Maori view of land differs from that of a Pakeha. Most Maoris regard land as being a part of their own existence and treat it with respect.

**l am the land

the womb of life and death

The Pakeha uses the land to make money

But in death

you settlers and farmers

return to me

Land has played a significant part in the history of the Maori. The first person to set foot on this land of Aotearoa was Kupe, so they say, although some recent discoveries are putting doubts into the minds of the Maori.

There are still some bitter struggles over land today as shown at Bastion Point and Raglan. Some of the Ngati Whatua and even Europeans protested about the taking of I ind they believed belonged to their forefathers. They

were determined to guard that land and had to be removed forcibly from it. This protest, the Raglan protest and the Land March have made the public aware of the spiritual value of land to the Maori.

Quotations from poems by Aprina Taylor,

Feelings & Memories of a Kuia The Womb

(Three Shades, Voice Press 1981)

Laura Murphy

Panguru High School

Form 5