Engā mana e ngā reo, tēnā koutou katoa. Ki ngā mātua ki ngā tūpuna kua wehe atu ki te wāhi ngāro, whakawhitia ngā moana tau atu rā ki Hawaikinui, ki Hawaikiroa, ki Hawaiki-pāmamao.
For hundreds of years Māori have recited stories of the seafaring adventures of their ancestors. Despite the theories of many anthropologists and scholars the feats of these ancestors have remained as something to be admired and believed in. However, as time has continued on in it’s ever advancing way many people have grown up in the belief that only a handful of intrepid voyagers made it to Aotearoa in a band of seven waka that travelled together in a fleet type of voyage. This romantic image of the arrival of Māori to these shores is often the only description that reaches New Zealanders as they pass through the educational processes of this country.
If one took the time however to look closely at the stories and songs that describe the voyages and the eventual settlement of Aotearoa by the Māori one will find a wealth of information and a startling number of accounts of waka that travelled here. The idea of seven waka voyaging together pales into insignificance when one is confronted with the numbers of voyaging waka that can be traced through traditional sources.
In his efforts to trace the seafaring heritage of his own family and to record this information for them, the author has written a book that illustrates just how many waka played a part in the settlement history of this country. Those waka we are all familiar with are encountered, but we also find waka whose history has faded to the point where only the names remain. This in itself should be seen as a challenge to all those interested in the waka history of Aotearoa. It challenges us to find out more about the voyaging heritage of our ancestors. It challenges us to seek answers whether it be through asking acknowledged experts in those fields or researching old history books and song recordings. No doubt some people will know stories that differ in some aspects to those that this book presents. Be that as it may, the list of ancient waka names that this work provides reinforces the voyaging heritage of a people who were once the bearers of significant technological and scientific know-how.
We were once a voyaging people. As Captain Cook found out, our ancestors discovered minute specks of land in a vast ocean centuries before his own people would venture beyond the sight of land. Eventually we will all make that final voyage across the vast ocean to Hawaiki-nui. In the meantime we can still voyage with our ancestors through their stories and we can continue on personal voyages of discovery as we trace the lost traditions and stories of those waka who remain with us in name only.
Books such as this, coupled with the renaissance in traditional voyaging and navigational techniques by Hawaiians and Māori with the construction and successful journeys of waka such as Hokule’a in the 1970s and Te Aurere in the 1990s will certainly maintain the seafaring histories of not only Māori but Polynesian culture for many generations to come.
‘E kore au e ngaro, he kākano i ruia mai i Rangiātea’
Hoturoa Kerr
Te Tari Māori
Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato