At Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna Waiwhetū vendors were busy setting up their zines, inside the presentation room seats were full-up with listeners settling in, ready to spend the next hour with Gabrielle Huria (Ngāi Tahu) and Mike Joy. Ross Calman (Ngāti Toa, Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāi Tahu) was hosting the conversation.
Ross welcomes everyone, giving a rundown of the talk, acknowledging the importance the subject and thanking the support of Ngāi Tahu Research Centre before he goes on to introduce the authors.
Gabrielle is a practitioner of Ngāi Tahu Mahinga Kai – traditional food gathering, and Chief Executive of Te Kura Taka Pini, an organisation that was established in 2019 to progress the Ngāi Tahu Rangatiratanga over Freshwater Strategy. As an author, Gabe has several written children’s stories. Ross displays her most recent work for us to see, a beautiful cobalt blue and gold poetry collection entitled Pakiaka.
Gabe talks about the history of her Canterbury connection and how many of her happiest family memories were built on spending time with the rivers, whitebaiting, fishing for flounder, and swimming. She expresses a deep desire to pass that legacy on to her children and her mokopuna, the fact that this has been taken from away from her feels incredibly personal and is a strong motivator in the work Gabe does.
Intros move to Mike, a Senior Researcher for the Morgan Foundation, author of his memoir The Fight for Freshwater and recipient of numerous awards in recognition of his work. Also from Canterbury, the ecologist says his strongest core memories are of water. Wanting to share that legacy with his family, Mike tells a story about when he and his partner took their 7-year-old nieces for a river swim in Manawatu. It felt like a classic moment - a hot day and the family heads to the river for a swim. The day took a turn for the worst when one of his nieces became frighteningly ill that evening. Mike had just begun studying and was diving into the Resource Management Act, a chat with a guy at the local petrol station the next day revealed waste was being dumped into the river upstream in Fielding. This was a wakeup call, and Mike went deeper into water research, realising his own naive faith in the system and that these days in Aotearoa, unfortunately, we do have very dirty rivers.
Ross asks what might have caused this shift between the time of their childhood and what is happening now? Mike says “intensification” back in the 80s when he was in his own farming days people farmed about 1 cow per hectare; this has now risen to about 4 cows per hectare. To support this intensification, there has been a boom in irrigation, increased use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, and a breakdown of soil biodiversity resulting in the use of palm kernel as animal feed. The synthetic nitrogen has sadly made its way into our waterways as a result.
Gabe talks about there being 442 consents to extract and directly discard into the Ashley River. She sees the impact this has had on whitebaiting, the fish themselves need to be rinsed before eating. It doesn't stop those who have always done it, there are often people out there from Ashley Gorge all the way to the river mouth, she jokes ‘"hey must glow in the dark with what they are eating” and shares accounts where people have gotten ill from eating kai from the river.
Gabe continues - one response that has been taken to stop the maximisation of resource consents was the purchase of 17 farms along the river by Ngāi Tahu, the land is being used to practice regenerative farming methods, Gabe says it's not going to solve the problem but it's a start.
She prepares to read a poem titled Mahaanui War Cry, Mahaanui is the name given to the area that is Pegasus. She talks a little about the Pegasus subdivision and how its toxic man-made lake that runs right into “our wakawaka (harvesting area), a really important historical place for us as Ngāi Tahu”. Beautifully written and powerful – this poem is her response.
Ross asks Mike about his memoir, noting the various jobs he held before becoming a scientist, Ross also asks about Mike's experience studying in his 30s. Mike jokes he still feels like he “sounds like a truck driver”, and yes, he was also a farmer, he says he often feels like an "outsider in academia". As a mature student with some experience on the outside, he found he was more likely to question things. This helped his learning. When he became a teacher himself, he saw just how much everyone learns from each other - teachers and students alike. Study is something he has a deep appreciation for; he loved every minute. Ross asks about how Mike copes with backlash from his work, Mike mihis to all the other freshwater warriors in the room! Any negative feedback he gets is counterbalanced and outnumbered by the positive responses.
Mike shares a story from his memoir about some of his work visits to Karioi Forest at Ruapehu where Keith - a captivating kaumatua with a knack for inspiring deep connection to the whenua within others - would work his magic on the students. I thought it was a lovely inspiring reading that offered a gentle balance to the tough truths about the state of our waterways.
Ross asks Gabe about the High Court Ngāi Tahu case, she explains that in 2017 a unanimous decision was made at the tribal hui to take on the Crown, she feels they put their best foot forward and are now awaiting a response. The case being that when the Kemps Deed was granted in 1848, Ngāi Tahu was guaranteed rangatiratanga rights to waterways, and mahinga kai, the Crown failed to fulfil this promise.
Fast forward to now we have the issues spoken about in this conversation, nitrates are getting into the rural and urban wells (it's harmful for our waterways and our bodies too). Gabe says it's not just one groups problem, and we shouldn't need a catastrophe to motivate us to come together and find a solution. Mike agrees adding that it's not fair on future generations to leave our waterways in this condition.
Ross asks Mike and Gabe what gives them hope? Mike says it's finding ways to make change happen, for instance utilising the law at a local and central level, the Ngāi Tahu case is an example. Mike says working for cases like this gives him a chance to put his research to worthwhile use. Gabe talks about the small things her tribe are doing to bring about change such as native replanting, and the modern strength Ngāi Tahu has as a community and treaty partner, with finances, ideas and the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre. Gabe wraps the answer up by emphasizing again how important it is that we do our best for future generations, that we continue to show up and use our personal voices to bring about change.
The conversation finished off with several questions and answers and a book signing by Gabe and Mike. I found them both so interesting to listen too, there were plenty of laughs from the audience and both authors had to rein themselves in from speaking on occasion, the hour flew by, clearly with plenty more they could have said!
Katrina
Matatiki Hornby Centre
More
- Te Kura Taka Pini - Freshwater Strategy | Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu
- The Morgan Foundation | Public Policy Research New Zealand
- Read books by Gabrielle Huria
- Read books by Mike Joy
WORD Christchurch
- WORD Christchurch website
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