Cultural Heritage Mapping

Trevor Howse (Ngāti Kuri)

During research for the Ngāi Tahu Claim, the Ngāi Tahu Māori Trust Board collected a vast amount of information on Ngāi Tahu lands, histories and traditions, including place names.

A key researcher for the trust board who was responsible for collating this information was Trevor Howse (Ngāti Kurī), a voracious collector of place names and maps. He worked for the trust board in diverse roles, including the management of the land bank process between Ngāi Tahu and the Crown as part of Te Kerēme and the subsequent settlement.

Similar to Howse, James Russell (Kāti Waewae) was also a powerhouse backroom organiser who worked for the trust board in a diverse range of roles.

Russell researched, prepared and gave evidence to the Waitangi Tribunal regarding the Māori Reserved Land Act.

"When I was a young fella, I remember hearing these places names at the knees of my mother," says Russell. "Then about 40 years ago, I started collecting place names from books and newspapers, but back then I didn't record the sources."

Howse says when they were collecting evidence for the Claim, they were fortunate that some families allowed them to copy old material.

"I had a bee in my bonnet and I had largely gathered material that was irrelevant to other people," says Howse, "but I knew at some stage it would become important."

He was right. About five years ago he was approached for support by Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu's environmental adviser Takerei Norton (Ngāti Kurī, Ngāti Irakehu). Norton was responsible for protecting Ngāi Tahu's interests in the South Island High Country Pastoral Leases through Tenure Review.

A mentoring team, including Howse, Russell, David Higgins and Matapura Ellison (the late Kelly Davis was also a member), was established to support Norton with his Tenure Review role.

The team's work then extended into a cultural mapping project. They provided Norton with information they had collected over the years, which was then mapped onto the iwi's Geographical Information System (GIS) by specialist Huia Pacey (Ngāi Tahu, Te Tau a Ihu, Ngāti Tūwharetoa ki Kawerau). They also accompany Norton and Pacey on field visits when researching names.

Pacey has a masters degree in Māori GIS at Lincoln University, with an emphasis on the fundamental questions associated with GIS and heritage mapping.

She subsequently spent a couple of years focussing on indigenous cartography and toponymy (place names).

Pacey describes GIS as computer mapping. "It's a lot more than that, but the description helps people to understand that GIS is a tool where relationships can be analysed and then visualised in the form of maps. This is particularly useful for heritage mapping."

She is excited about her place name work, especially going out and collecting information from manawhenua.

"It can show the history. A lot of living, a lot of loving and a lot of fighting. It helps bring the land to life. It helps locals to recognise that areas are still special and worth recording".

The precision of the GIS software means sites can be mapped with extreme accuracy, down to centimetres. The accepted iwi place name is put down on the map with spelling as correct as possible.

All other versions of the names are also recorded.

These can reveal interesting historical information.

Takerei Norton (Ngāti Kuri, Ngāti Irakehu)

"Sometimes a name has always been known to be incorrect, and people are just getting round to fixing it up. The good thing about GIS is it can record these changes."

Authenticity is determined through research and kōrero with local people.

A particular strength GIS can lend to heritage mapping is its ability to search and locate, and use overlays to visualise the results, says Pacey. Sometimes locations are incorrectly mapped, but by using aerial photography and topographic base layers, that can often be corrected where a feature is visible on the ground.

Once areas have been mapped, difficult decisions must be made on access to the material. In some cases, local people might not want information they have revealed made public.

"As part of the project we have access to information that is not available to others because they are kept in 'tribal suitcases'." says Pacey. "If people want to make that information available, we're open to it, but there's no compulsion."

Basic information is already available through the Ngāi Tahu Communitynet GIS site and she hopes "it won't be long before Ngāi Tahu whānui will be able to log in using a password, and see the results of the heritage mapping and do some searching".

Norton is also responsible for coordinating iwi submissions to the New Zealand Geographic Board and providing operational support to Tā Tipene.

He uses the information they have collated on the GIS for his place name work. "When I receive a submission from the Geographic Board relating to a Māori place name within the Ngāi Tahu region, I send the proposal and any other relevant information that I have to the kaitiaki rūnanga. The rūnanga then make a decision, which I then feed back to the Geographic Board."

So far, this process has worked well. In some cases the information is available within a few computer key strokes.

"What we've got is it all in one kete [for them]," says Howse. "In the timeframe of the Claim, we didn't have enough time to use all the information we gathered." Asked if Te Rūnanga is doing enough to support this project, Howse immediately replies:

"Yes. I must acknowledge TRONT's support and commend Takerei's team."

Although there is a core group of elders set up to support this project, Norton emphasises the importance of working with the local people from the marae.

"We know that there are so many more people out there who will add a huge amount of value to the project. For example, we've been lucky enough to work with John Wilson from Kaikōura, who has recorded so much information on local place names over the years.

I guess at the moment we are building the foundation for people to add on to."

So far the project has been primarily focused on the South Island High Country and Kaikōura and it is intended to extend the project throughout the takiwā working with each individual papatipu rūnanga.

Cultural Heritage Mapping

Wind of Your Homeland

Cultural Heritage Mapping

Te Ana A Wai

The New Zealand Geographic Board

Inside Issue 43

Wind of your Homeland

Cyber Connections

Reo Revolution

Keeping Watch Over Mātaitai

Bi-Lingual Tamariki

Chopper Ready

Appetite for Living

Organic Gardening