This book came about from a desire to bring together as many of the written traditions as possible for each of the waka that voyaged to Aotearoa during the earliest period of Polynesian exploration and migration to Aotearoa. In each case, as much information has been presented for the reader as possible, allowing an ‘across the board’ view of details recorded for each particular waka tradition. After each entry a list of the sources used is listed for those wishing to look further into any particular tradition, or for those who may wish to question any information offered. I have avoided a personal commentary in all but one or two entries, leaving it to the reader to choose between the varying versions.
Naturally there will be many points that will be strenuously debated, and any discussion is to be encouraged. It should be noted, however, that this is a collection of traditions gathered since Europeans first arrived in Aotearoa, and as with any oral tradition, there will be contradictions with contemporary traditions. Suffice to say there are problems surrounding collecting written traditions and oral traditions alike. Misinformation can be provided, and important details can be lost or inadvertently corrupted as tradition passes from one mouth to another. Taking this into account, it would seem pointless to argue whether a statement recorded over 100 years ago is valid, when the challenge comes from a source quoting oral history.
On the other hand, some sources used have been questioned in the last decade or two, with claims against their authenticity strongly voiced. Such works as The Ancient History of the Maori and The Lore of the Whare Wananga have been largely discredited, with claims suggesting large portions of both works were either falsified or have had so much European input as to make them invalid for historical purposes. Despite such claims, all information gathered has been included, with references used for each entry listed. This will allow those who wish to delve deeper the opportunity to study the original reference.
My main disappointment during the research for this book is that I did not have the resources to investigate the wealth of information available in the Maori Land Court Minute Books. There is without doubt a huge amount of waka tradition entombed within the leaves of the Minute Books, and I would encourage anyone with enough time and willpower to seek it out.
On a personal note, before the idea of compiling the numerous traditions recorded in earlier works into one volume came into being, my objective was to pass on any information I could gather to my daughters about their Maori ancestry. Once I started to search for information on their particular waka, the deluge of recorded traditions and part traditions on waka I had never heard of (remember the seven-waka migration fleet theory?) was virtually never ending. It seemed every book ever written about the Maori contained at least a passing reference to one or more ancestral waka.
Gathering information from such a wide pool of sources was both a blessing and a curse. The names of many waka have been preserved in such valuable volumes as Nga Moteatea and the numerous works of J. Herries Beattie, with little or no other information remembered or available. At the other end of the scale, the better-known waka, such as Te Arawa, Tainui and Aotea, have a huge amount of information written about them, either supporting other information, or offering alternative versions.
In recent years, a number of contemporary academics, among them Margaret Orbell and David Simmons, have made claims that many of the waka traditions passed down over the centuries were memories of voyages that were made by ancestors along the shores of Aotearoa, and not voyages made directly from the Pacific Islands. There has been a large amount of support for their claims, and it is perhaps worth taking the time to read their offerings. (Simmons, The Great New Zealand Myth; and Orbell, Hawaiki — a new approach to Maori tradition).
Because the majority of the texts sourced have been printed without the use of either macrons or double vowels, I have resisted the temptation to adopt the modern trend of editing with macrons, and have left the text as originally printed.
Jeff Evans