Photographs and words nā Phil Tumataroa
Te Ao o Te Maori
A window into the rich lifestyles of contemporary Māori.

As a boy, Donald Brown remembers his father rowing across Te Waihora under the cover of darkness to collect swan eggs.

"He used the lights of the houses on shore to guide himself," he recalls as he picks his way through the clumps of tall fescue grass and thick clouds of buzzing "midges" that dominate the breeding grounds of the once prolific native black swans of Te Waihora (Lake Ellesmere).

"The eggs are rough when they're first laid, so he could tell which ones to take in the dark," explains Donald. During the three-week incubation cycle the sandpaper baby blue eggs become smooth and discoloured from the parents rolling them, making them easy to distinguish for the skilled hunter.

Donald has lived his life on and around the lake. He grew up in Lincoln and regularly spent time in Taumutu visiting his grandparents. His family also has a hut by the lake at Greenpark – where he still spends a lot of his time.

By the mid 1800s and the advent of the Acclimatisation Society it became illegal to take game bird eggs, which included black swans. The Society (now Fish and Game) utilised disused airforce towers so they could patrol the breeding grounds, which at the time was home to 70,000 black swans. According to Donald "there was no sharing". The society collected the eggs in their thousands and sold them mostly to the racing industry as horse feed. At times they just broke the eggs in their nests in the interests of controlling the population. Eventually it was the great Wahine storm of 1968 that permanently changed Te Waihora, destroying the lakeland ecosystem and, in doing so, reduced the swan population to a tenth of its former size.

For Donald, Te Waihora fills his past, present and future. Having the ability today to walk onto its shores under the full September sun to search for swan eggs brings him palpable satisfaction. Donald has driven the process with the North Canterbury branch of Fish and Game to allow the traditonal Ngāi Tahu mahinga kai practice of egg gathering to be reinstated for the past three years.

"It's a small step, we still have to get a permit, but we are regaining our mana and being allowed to re-engage with something before it's lost and so carry on our traditions and connections to our tīpuna."