1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 (ETHEREAL MUSIC) 2 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:08,920 - My ancestors arrived here in Maketu over 700 years ago, 3 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:12,720 bringing with them the things they needed to survive in a new land ― 4 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:19,520 plants, tools and the cultural know-how to explore and settle the world's largest ocean. 5 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:23,160 Their waka carried the plants they needed for food and clothing. 6 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:29,280 The one that became most important here was the kumara, which was not just critical to our survival, 7 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:34,280 but tells a story that connects us right across the Pacific. 8 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:38,360 I want to retrace the journey of our ancestors, 9 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:42,000 discovering the three corners of the Polynesian Triangle 10 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:45,600 and their voyage to become tangata whenua. 11 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:48,440 I'm following the clues left by our tupuna, 12 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:50,440 archaeology, science 13 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:53,960 and the mystery of a humble sweet potato. 14 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:57,120 In this episode, I travel all the way to Rapa Nui, 15 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:00,360 where I'm overwhelmed by the mighty moai, 16 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:03,880 and I find missing pieces of the puzzle in Hawai'i. 17 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:06,760 Everything's come together here. 18 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:09,080 (DRIVING PERCUSSIVE MUSIC) 19 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:12,680 Join me as I follow the path of my ancestors. 20 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:15,560 www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2023. 21 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:17,560 (MYSTICAL MUSIC) 22 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:25,560 (MUSIC CONTINUES) 23 00:01:28,960 --> 00:01:32,680 Rapa Nui was discovered during the same push from eastern Polynesia 24 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:36,240 that led to the discoveries of Hawai'i and Aotearoa, 25 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:42,000 and those voyagers carried with them the same canoe plants as the voyagers who arrived to Hawai'i 26 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:44,200 and, of course, Aotearoa. 27 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:52,840 And one of those waka carried the great chief Hotu Matu'a, who led his people ashore here at Anakena. 28 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:56,160 I've long wondered about this distant, isolated island, 29 00:01:56,160 --> 00:02:01,040 so it's an honour to be welcomed by a rangatira, Victor Ika. 30 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:03,120 (GENTLE ETHEREAL MUSIC) 31 00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:15,960 - (SPEAKS IN RAPA NUI) 32 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:32,080 - (SPEAKS IN TE REO MAORI) 33 00:02:44,920 --> 00:02:48,000 Tena koutou. Tena koe. - Tena koe. Mm. 34 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:55,280 - Oh, that's just like... 35 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:00,080 Just feel, yeah. 36 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:02,200 Just feel. 37 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:19,960 Does each moai have a name? Is there a particular ancestor? 38 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:25,280 They look like potae. They look like hats. 39 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:28,240 But is that makawe? Is that like the hair, 40 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:30,680 tied up into a tihi? Yes. - Yeah, hair, yes, exactly. 41 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:32,680 - Yeah. 42 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:34,960 Just feels like they're all focused on you right now. 43 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:40,040 They all... The energy and the power just all coming straight at you, 44 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:42,520 eh. It's, like... (WHOOSHES) 45 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:47,040 What a feeling! 46 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:52,640 I wasn't expecting to feel such a connection to the moai 47 00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:56,840 and even less to be able to talk to Victor so easily. 48 00:03:56,840 --> 00:04:01,840 - (SPEAKS IN RAPA NUI) - (SPEAKS IN TE REO MAORI) - A Ture Huke. 49 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:05,560 - Ture Huke te ingoa? - E, Ture Huke te ingoa. 50 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:09,120 - Jeez, bro, your reo is... - Similar. - Phew. 51 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:11,680 - More similar than you thought. - More than similar. It's just pretty much the same. 52 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:13,680 - Yes. - Amazing. 53 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:22,200 You stand in front of the ancestors, it's just like standing in front of ours. 54 00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:26,120 It's like me going home to Tamatekapua, our meeting house, and standing in front of our tupuna. 55 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:33,600 They're saying to me, 'Ki te patai mai koe kia matou ko wai koe no hea koe, anei te whakautu.' 56 00:04:34,760 --> 00:04:39,080 My next stop is to meet Rapa Nui historian Cristian Pakarati 57 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:42,680 at an ancient ceremonial site at Akahanga. 58 00:04:43,360 --> 00:04:47,040 - Hotu Matu'a spent some of his early life on the island, 59 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:49,880 configuring how the power on the island should be managed 60 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:54,680 and how the different communities had to be established. 61 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:57,240 - Tell me a little bit about the moai. Would they be― 62 00:04:57,240 --> 00:04:59,240 Obviously, they would have been standing back in the day. - Yes. 63 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:02,040 When they were standing, the moai are 64 00:05:02,040 --> 00:05:05,840 the most important landmark of the community. 65 00:05:05,840 --> 00:05:09,040 If you go towards the interior of the island, 66 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:14,920 as long as you turn around and you still see them, you know it's your land, you know you'resafe. 67 00:05:14,920 --> 00:05:17,480 It's the land of your clan, of your people. 68 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:21,360 But if you go too far inland, and they are no longer visible, 69 00:05:21,360 --> 00:05:25,680 in that case, OK, you're in nobody's land, and you're on your own, right? 70 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:27,800 No longer protected by that mana. 71 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:32,280 So that's why they try to make them as tall as possible, 72 00:05:32,280 --> 00:05:35,440 because the taller they were, the more land they cover. 73 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:38,680 - The further inland you can go, because you can still see your ancestor. 74 00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:39,920 - That's right. - Looking over you. 75 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:43,800 - Yeah. It's a way of claiming more land, right? 76 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:46,480 (MYSTERIOUS PERCUSSIVE MUSIC) 77 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:52,040 - Moai line the coast, 78 00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:55,920 but they were all carved out of a single inland mountain. 79 00:05:55,920 --> 00:05:58,160 At the quarry here in Rano Raraku, 80 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:00,840 you can see them at all levels of creation. 81 00:06:00,840 --> 00:06:04,560 It's as though the carvers just walked off the job. 82 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:08,640 - Most cases, they would carve the front first, then both sides. 83 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:10,760 Takes a few months, of course. 84 00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:14,280 Depends on the size, of course ― the bigger they are, the more time it takes. 85 00:06:14,280 --> 00:06:16,800 It could take up to a year or maybe even more. 86 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:20,960 The most difficult part was to release them from the bedrock, 87 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:24,720 and that involved starting to chop out pieces of... 88 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:26,720 of rock from under the back. 89 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:30,520 And then they would put some heavy rocks at the base, 90 00:06:30,520 --> 00:06:33,360 to support the weight of the moai, and only then they cut it, 91 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:37,320 sliding them down the slope on their backs, 92 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:40,360 and then they fall into some kind of a pit 93 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:42,360 that was excavated beforehand, 94 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:46,320 so the moai would fall in the upright position. 95 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:49,600 - And then how would they transport it? - Well, that's one of the mysteries. 96 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:52,360 The oral tradition of Rapa Nui claimed that the moai 97 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:55,320 walked towards the final destination. - Mm. 98 00:06:55,320 --> 00:06:59,280 Walking could have been a gentle rocking using guided ropes 99 00:06:59,280 --> 00:07:03,160 or a metaphor for pulling on rollers. 100 00:07:03,280 --> 00:07:05,280 (CURIOUS MUSIC) 101 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:08,680 Since colonisation, 102 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:12,640 the outside world has projected its own stories on to Rapa Nui, 103 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:16,040 imagining, rather than asking the people here, 104 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:19,120 how they might have moved the enormous moai, 105 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:23,080 and creating a fable of a people who destroyed their environment 106 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:26,040 to build them. 107 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:29,240 Western historians once believed that the island 108 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:33,080 lost all its trees to the people here trying to move the moai. 109 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:36,200 But, in fact, the forests were lost in early settlement, 110 00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:40,160 and a combination of rats and poor soil meant they never grew back. 111 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:42,920 This led to the development of a matauranga 112 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:46,280 that scientists like Dr Sonia Haoa call lithic, 113 00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:48,920 or rock gardening. 114 00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:55,840 (LAUGHS) 115 00:07:56,480 --> 00:07:58,480 Yeah. 116 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:01,400 Mm. 117 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:05,480 And it wasn't just gardening ― 118 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:09,440 their lives depended on their clever use of rocks. 119 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:20,280 Well, now that you point it all out, yeah, I can see it all. 120 00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:22,800 Wow. 121 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:24,800 Yeah. 122 00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:28,600 It's like a little papakainga things, a little home for yourself. Yeah. - (LAUGHS) Yeah. 123 00:08:28,600 --> 00:08:30,600 BOTH: Yeah. 124 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:40,960 - That adaptation led to a deep understanding of how volcanic rocks 125 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:43,320 could be used to help feed and water 126 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:47,120 their crops in this harsh environment. 127 00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:00,440 (SPEAKS IN TE REO MAORI) 128 00:09:02,040 --> 00:09:04,040 Mm-hm. 129 00:09:09,680 --> 00:09:12,480 Sonia has taken this lost matauranga 130 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:15,560 and helped to bring it back to life at the local high school, 131 00:09:15,560 --> 00:09:19,000 where students are taught to grow crops in the traditional way. 132 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:22,560 - (SPEAKS IN RAPA NUI, CHUCKLES) - Taki, tena koutou. 133 00:09:22,560 --> 00:09:24,560 - (SPEAKS IN RAPA NUI) 134 00:09:26,560 --> 00:09:28,560 - Tena koe. 135 00:09:29,040 --> 00:09:31,520 This is how the ancestors would grow kumara, 136 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:33,920 like this? - Yes. Ancestors. 137 00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:46,520 - (SPEAKS IN TE REO MAORI) 138 00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:50,320 - (SPEAKS IN RAPA NUI) 139 00:09:54,960 --> 00:09:56,960 - Kia ora. 140 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:00,960 Nene? Nene? 141 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:03,680 I don't know if our ancestors chomped on raw kumara, 142 00:10:03,680 --> 00:10:05,960 but, hey, I'll give it a try. 143 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:16,800 First couple of chews, it's like... There's a bit of dirt, 144 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:19,320 but once you get into the juicy bit,... 145 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:21,320 reka, eh. 146 00:10:21,320 --> 00:10:23,320 (MYSTICAL MUSIC) 147 00:10:25,360 --> 00:10:27,360 (SPEAKS IN TE REO MAORI) 148 00:10:51,240 --> 00:10:53,320 (GENTLE WONDROUS MUSIC) 149 00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:00,840 - Now, this huge crater behind me here at Rano Kau 150 00:11:00,840 --> 00:11:03,040 is a traditional source of water, food, 151 00:11:03,040 --> 00:11:06,200 shelter and protection for the people here in Rapa Nui. 152 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:09,800 It's also a very sacred place because right over there, 153 00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:13,760 on that cliff face, ko te maea hono o Hotu Matu'a. 154 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:17,880 It's there that the great ancestor of the Rapa Nui people, Hotu Matu'a, 155 00:11:17,880 --> 00:11:21,840 passed away. He put his hands into the land and transferred his mana 156 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:25,200 into te pito o te whenua, hai oranga mounga uri, 157 00:11:25,200 --> 00:11:28,600 as sustenance for the future generations of Rapa Nui. 158 00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:36,040 Hotu Matu'a helped establish a culture and a way of life 159 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:40,000 that sustained the people here until the arrival of colonisation, 160 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:43,960 which took the population down to a heartbreaking 111. 161 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:46,520 Under rule by distant Chile, 162 00:11:46,520 --> 00:11:50,200 the culture and language of the Rapa Nui people was almost lost. 163 00:11:51,440 --> 00:11:53,440 - WOMAN CALLS: 164 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:07,760 (ROOSTER CROWS) 165 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:13,480 - Kia ora. - (LAUGHS) Kia ora. 166 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:19,200 - (SPEAKS IN TE REO MAORI) 167 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:22,520 Manahau. Manahau. (LAUGHS) Mauru-uru. Mauru-uru. 168 00:12:22,520 --> 00:12:24,520 (CHILDREN CHATTER) 169 00:12:24,640 --> 00:12:28,560 I feel like I've walked straight into a kohanga at home. 170 00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:31,880 And, in fact, their language revival and teaching method 171 00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:35,440 is inspired by ours in Aotearoa. 172 00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:37,800 (SPEAKS TE REO MAORI) 173 00:12:43,560 --> 00:12:45,560 Tena koe. 'Iorana. 174 00:12:46,680 --> 00:12:48,680 (ALL SPEAK RAPA NUI) 175 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:54,440 (CHILDREN SPEAK IN RAPA NUI) 176 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:02,800 (GUITAR PLAYS, DRUM BEATS) 177 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:07,520 (GROUP SINGS IN RAPA NUI) 178 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:24,320 - (SPEAKS IN RAPA NUI) 179 00:13:56,960 --> 00:13:59,040 - (SPEAKS IN TE REO MAORI) 180 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:02,520 - (SPEAKS IN RAPA NUI) - Ataahua. - Tahua. 181 00:14:02,560 --> 00:14:04,560 - A-taahua. - Ataahua. 182 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:06,680 Mauru-uru. - Mauru-uru. 183 00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:08,840 - Eh. - Eh. 184 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:11,320 (THOUGHTFUL ACOUSTIC MUSIC) 185 00:14:17,200 --> 00:14:20,960 Rapa Nui is surrounded by symbols that remind the people 186 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:23,320 they're still here, they're still alive. 187 00:14:23,320 --> 00:14:26,240 But te pumanawa o te ahurea o Rapa Nui ― 188 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:28,800 the beating heart of the culture of Rapa Nui ― 189 00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:32,600 lies within its tangata whenua. 190 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:35,600 The history of that tangata whenua is 191 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:39,480 inextricably linked with their majestic moai. 192 00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:42,560 I'm here to meet an archaeo-astronomer at the ahu, 193 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:45,760 with the only moai that face out to sea. 194 00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:49,240 So, how do these moai connect to astronomy? 195 00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:52,960 What do they tell us? - Because they are perfectly oriented towards Orion. 196 00:14:53,040 --> 00:14:56,720 And Orion was a very important star together with the Pleiades, 197 00:14:56,720 --> 00:14:58,720 because they had a cycle, 198 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:02,120 a yearly cycle of activities and ceremonies and rituals. 199 00:15:02,120 --> 00:15:04,360 You have them in New Zealand also? - Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 200 00:15:04,360 --> 00:15:07,800 - Matariki. - Matariki. Yeah, I was gonna ask you, is Matariki significant here. 201 00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:11,160 to Rapa Nui? - Yes, it is the most important star of the island, 202 00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:13,360 because when Matariki... 203 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:15,680 appears in June,... 204 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:20,240 this is a period in which people will dedicate to planting. 205 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:23,440 And then the Pleiades will disappear in June, 206 00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:26,080 and you wouldn't see it again till October, 207 00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:28,080 beginning of November. 208 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:31,720 And it was the opening of the fishing season, offshore fishing season. 209 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:33,720 - That's kind of like the new year as well. 210 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:36,160 - New Year. It was New Year. - Yeah. Just like they have in New Zealand. 211 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:39,640 - Just like in Aotearoa. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 212 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:47,840 What do we call these? - Tupa. - Tupa. 213 00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:53,160 - And this was where the priests that were in charge of, 214 00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:57,760 uh, announcing the arrival of migrational birds, 215 00:15:57,760 --> 00:16:01,720 turtles, all the... all the migration of food resources to the island. 216 00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:04,560 All these tupa have a door. 217 00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:07,480 And the door is, in this case, 218 00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:09,880 it's oriented north-south. 219 00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:13,000 And then you have these towers, 220 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:16,960 and these towers indicate exactly where the stars would appear and go down. 221 00:16:16,960 --> 00:16:19,880 - On the horizon? - On the horizon. 222 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:24,080 So the stars, if you stand in that tower and you look here, 223 00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:26,280 that is where the Pleiades would rise ― 224 00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:28,280 Matariki. - Wow. 225 00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:30,480 - It was a lunar calendar. - Yeah, lunar calendar. 226 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:33,280 Like us in Aotearoa. - Yeah, yeah. 227 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:38,400 - Edmundo also has a theory that nearby petroglyphs were created 228 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:42,200 to help interpret the observation of the stars. 229 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:45,520 - What do you see? Fishhooks and an octopus. 230 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:48,120 - Fishhooks and an octopus. - They're quite clear here. 231 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:50,120 - Oh, very clear. 232 00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:56,600 And you think the reason they created these petroglyphs is...? 233 00:16:56,600 --> 00:16:58,680 - Because you have a certain season 234 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:01,320 in which you can only fish for offshore fish. 235 00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:03,960 And these are the types of fishhooks 236 00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:07,880 that were used to catch tuna fish. That is the offshore season. 237 00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:12,280 - So, this syncs up to the towers that sync up to Matariki. 238 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:15,040 - Matariki. - They read Matariki, 239 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:18,120 and then they feed this information. and this is where― almost like they're recording. 240 00:17:18,120 --> 00:17:20,800 - Yeah. Yeah. - Yeah. So it's an ancient way of 241 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:23,360 communicating information 242 00:17:23,360 --> 00:17:26,680 about seasons and times to do particular things, 243 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:29,120 like catch tuna. - Catch tuna. 244 00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:31,400 - Matariki, eh? - Matariki. 245 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:35,440 - Matariki. - What will you do without matariki? - What will we do without Matariki? 246 00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:37,440 Exactly. 247 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:43,880 Wonder how they connected all this up, how they worked this all out, 248 00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:46,200 and then put all this together. 249 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:49,480 It's a mystery, but it's brilliant, eh. 250 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:51,480 (CHUCKLES) 251 00:17:51,560 --> 00:17:53,560 It's amazing. 252 00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:58,720 I feel sad that so much of this ancient knowledge has been lost. 253 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:00,720 - (BLOWS SHELL HORN) 254 00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:07,280 - Their ability to navigate was lost long ago, 255 00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:10,520 as the lack of trees meant they weren't able to build waka. 256 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:13,920 But the tide is turning with the rebirth of waka ama. 257 00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:18,000 These teams are planning for a non-stop 320km race, 258 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:21,800 following a traditional navigational path. 259 00:18:22,960 --> 00:18:24,960 (SPEAKS IN TE REO MAORI) 260 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:28,040 - (SPEAKS IN RAPA NUI) 261 00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:05,720 (BOTH LAUGH) 262 00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:08,480 - Yeah! Pai. 263 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:11,400 (GROUP SINGS IN RAPA NUI) 264 00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:17,040 Along with paddling, dance here is having a rebirth. 265 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:20,040 I'm meeting Victor's dance crew for a goodbye umu ― 266 00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:23,440 a chance to taste their traditional kai. 267 00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:26,720 (SPEAKS IN TE REO MAORI) 268 00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:33,920 But I'm also in awe of the way they use the resources this island gave them ― 269 00:19:34,400 --> 00:19:38,280 using stone for gardening, astronomy, resolving land disputes, 270 00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:41,760 and, of course, for cooking ― just like us. 271 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:45,320 (GROUP SINGS IN RAPA NUI) 272 00:19:56,720 --> 00:19:58,720 - (SPEAKS IN RAPA NUI) 273 00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:04,240 (SPEAKS IN RAPA NUI) 274 00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:09,000 (BOTH SPEAK IN INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES) 275 00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:15,240 - (SPEAKS IN RAPA NUI) - Mmm. Mmm. 276 00:20:15,240 --> 00:20:18,920 Whether we come from Hiva, Hawaiki, Marae Renga ― 277 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:22,200 it feels like we were all once together. 278 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:25,480 Nene. - BOTH: Nene. - (LAUGHS) 279 00:20:26,120 --> 00:20:28,640 - Some of us went south to Aotearoa. 280 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:31,000 These beautiful people came east, 281 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:34,480 and some went all the way north to Hawai'i. 282 00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:41,320 (PERCUSSIVE MUSIC) 283 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:49,320 (MUSIC CONTINUES) 284 00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:51,320 - Over a couple of centuries, 285 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:54,400 eastern Polynesian navigators explored the Pacific, 286 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:57,680 sailing thousands of miles and mapping hundreds of islands, 287 00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:00,120 creating the Polynesian Triangle. 288 00:21:00,120 --> 00:21:04,080 The triangle extends south to the sub-Antarctic Maungahuka, 289 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:08,280 east to Rapa Nui and all the way north to here, in Hawai'i. 290 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:10,840 (GENTLE MUSIC) 291 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:15,040 Their discovery and settlement across the open ocean of these remote, 292 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:17,160 widely scattered islands 293 00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:20,960 is one of the world's greatest achievements. 294 00:21:23,120 --> 00:21:26,560 I often think of the parallels between Hawai'i, 295 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:29,840 Aotearoa and the sacred home, Hawaiki. 296 00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:33,000 Our ancestors were from the same area, 297 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:35,120 but mine jumped on a waka and went south, 298 00:21:35,120 --> 00:21:39,080 while those who became Hawaiian jumped on a different waka and came north. 299 00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:42,320 Now, landing in different whenua means that 300 00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:45,000 we established ourselves in very different ways. 301 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:47,000 (GENTLE MUSIC) 302 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:50,800 The Hawaiian ancestors made it here 303 00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:54,280 around the same time my tupuna arrived in Aotearoa 304 00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:56,720 and Hotu Matu'a landed in Rapa Nui. 305 00:21:56,720 --> 00:21:58,720 Aloha, Mike. - Aloha. 306 00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:02,040 - Our waka all carried what we now call canoe plants, 307 00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:06,000 that enabled those settlers to adapt to their new land. 308 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:08,880 - All of these plants, except for one, 309 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:11,720 have their origin in the ancient migrations, 310 00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:14,400 going up into, like, Southeast Asia and parts of Asia. 311 00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:17,320 So it's pretty, pretty certain that they travelled throughout 312 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:19,520 the Pacific Islands with all the plants. 313 00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:22,720 Of course, the one plant that was not with them from Southeast Asia 314 00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:26,680 was the 'uala or the sweet potato, which they got from the Americas. 315 00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:28,960 As a horticulturalist, as somebody who likes to grow stuff, 316 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:31,240 it always amazes me how well they 317 00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:33,600 were able to travel with these plants. 318 00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:35,840 They had to travel with live plant 319 00:22:35,840 --> 00:22:39,800 parts and keep them alive on voyages that took who knows how long, 320 00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:43,800 and then get them established on the island that they finally arrived on. 321 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:45,800 - So, of the 23 waka plants, 322 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:48,320 how many of them were taken to Aotearoa, do you think? 323 00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:51,520 - Yeah, I'm pretty sure they took all 23 to Aotearoa. 324 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:55,320 Our ancestors were all such talented horticulturalists and farmers, 325 00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:58,440 and they would have been able to make those plants grow when they first arrived there. 326 00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:01,320 But the climate is so different from the tropics where we're at now 327 00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:03,560 that not all of them would have survived the climate there. 328 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:06,320 And so they focused on the ones that that did well, 329 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:08,640 that were surviving the climate, 330 00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:11,120 and cultivated those. 331 00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:16,200 - I came here to learn about Hawaiian tradition. 332 00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:19,240 Instead, colonisation has turned this place, 333 00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:21,280 so rich in natural resources, 334 00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:24,400 into a concrete jungle and American playground. 335 00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:26,400 From the time I arrived, 336 00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:29,560 I haven't really seen the indigenous people, 337 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:32,680 the indigenous culture, represented here. 338 00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:36,080 But I think the people here are resilient 339 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:39,600 and are working towards reclaiming 340 00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:41,600 what they've lost. 341 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:44,400 With Hawaiian culture at its core, 342 00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:48,360 Oahu's Kamehameha School teaches a relationship with the 'aina ― 343 00:23:48,360 --> 00:23:50,400 the land. 344 00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:52,400 I've heard the term, 345 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:56,040 'aloha 'aina' a lot. What does that term mean to you? 346 00:23:56,160 --> 00:24:00,120 - The 'aina is sacred, and it is elder sibling to us. 347 00:24:00,120 --> 00:24:02,120 It is our kua'ana, 348 00:24:02,120 --> 00:24:04,880 and it is the thing that we lean on the most, 349 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:06,880 because we have to. 350 00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:09,160 Our survival depends on it. 351 00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:11,520 If our 'aina is sick, 352 00:24:12,040 --> 00:24:14,840 we're sick. If the 'aina is thriving, 353 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:17,480 we're thriving. - So, how do you, like, 354 00:24:17,480 --> 00:24:19,480 express aloha 'aina? 355 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:22,760 What's some cultural practices and... 356 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:27,880 things that you do that express your aloha 'aina? 357 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:31,480 - Probably my favourite way right now is, as a po'e hula, 358 00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:35,440 as someone who practices hula and teaches hula, 359 00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:38,000 it's in the use of... 360 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:40,920 what I know and what I've been taught, 361 00:24:40,920 --> 00:24:44,600 and the things that I can observe and see that's happening in my time 362 00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:47,040 and being able to write about it. 363 00:24:47,040 --> 00:24:49,040 - So, you teach hula. 364 00:24:49,360 --> 00:24:51,360 How do you use hula... 365 00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:55,440 to... maintain creation stories, 366 00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:58,120 origin stories? - One of the most important things 367 00:24:58,120 --> 00:25:02,080 about understanding hula is that hula doesn't exist without the words. 368 00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:05,000 So, you have the dancer, who is the physical manifestation 369 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:07,920 of the meaning of the words. 370 00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:10,080 (SINGS IN HAWAIIAN) 371 00:25:57,320 --> 00:25:59,320 (SPEAKS IN HAWAIIAN) 372 00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:07,360 - Ka mau te wehi. Beautiful. Beautiful. 373 00:26:07,360 --> 00:26:09,360 - (CHUCKLES) Mahalo. 374 00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:12,920 - Elsewhere on the school grounds is a recreation 375 00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:16,360 of the ancient star compass. 376 00:26:16,360 --> 00:26:19,200 It's used here to teach students the connection between 377 00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:21,480 astronomy and navigation. 378 00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:26,960 - The kukuluokalani, or the star compass, 379 00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:30,440 is adapted with Hawaiian words and Hawaiian phrases 380 00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:33,800 in relation to our ancestral knowledge. 381 00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:36,920 And so a star that rises in 'Aina Ko'olau 382 00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:40,040 rises in 'Aina Ko'olau, does a little ke'e, or a motion, 383 00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:43,360 and it goes all the way across and ke'es right back 384 00:26:43,360 --> 00:26:47,320 and sets in 'Aina Ho'olua. So that's the movement of the star. 385 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:50,920 So, if our navigators know the point where they're heading, 386 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:52,920 is it on the right side of the canoe? Yes. 387 00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:55,320 OK, then we're heading north. 388 00:26:55,320 --> 00:26:59,280 - It's exciting that this matauranga, once shared across the Pacific, 389 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:01,280 is being shared again. 390 00:27:01,280 --> 00:27:03,280 - (SINGS IN HAWAIIAN) 391 00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:14,840 - 'Awa, or kava, 392 00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:18,640 is another canoe plant that would have been brought down to Aotearoa, 393 00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:21,080 but it just didn't adapt to our climate. 394 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:24,160 - You know, these chants, these pule, 395 00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:27,960 invoke the akua that is associated with 'awa. 396 00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:31,840 For us and for me, the first apu, 397 00:27:31,840 --> 00:27:35,800 or the first shell, always goes back to the land. 398 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:40,080 And so we use... And it's an acknowledgement of 399 00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:44,040 the 'aina and the honua or the whenua and its role, 400 00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:46,960 because without it, we don't exist. 401 00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:49,880 And the whenua, the 'aina, will be here― 402 00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:53,560 has been here before us, will be here way long after us. 403 00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:57,520 And so I'd like you to join me in taking that first apu back to the 'aina, 404 00:27:57,520 --> 00:28:00,040 if that's OK. - Oh, yes, thank you. 405 00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:02,640 - And then I'll pass this to you, 406 00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:05,040 and then we'll go take a walk. 407 00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:10,280 We're just pouring it right back on to the whenua. 408 00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:12,280 - Rangi e tu nei, 409 00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:15,120 Papa e takoto nei. Tahi ano atua. 410 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,560 I've always thought of kava as someone else's thing, 411 00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:24,320 but how would our culture be different if we'd been able to grow kava? 412 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:26,320 Maybe we'd have this ceremony. 413 00:28:26,320 --> 00:28:30,080 Thank you. That was an honour. - Yeah, thank you. 414 00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:33,240 - The land and the materials the land can grow 415 00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:35,960 helped shape our culture. 416 00:28:39,120 --> 00:28:41,400 We don't have the 'awa ceremony, but, 417 00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:44,600 at last, I feel as though I've really connected. 418 00:28:44,600 --> 00:28:46,600 Oh! 419 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:49,120 Tena koe, bro. 420 00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:52,200 (GENTLE WONDROUS MUSIC) 421 00:28:53,880 --> 00:28:55,880 (ROPE HUMS) 422 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:04,320 This is the last leg of my journey across the Polynesian Triangle. 423 00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:06,440 (SPEAKS IN TE REO MAORI) 424 00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:11,600 And those connections, those hononga, are undeniable. 425 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:14,080 What I'm really keen to find out now, though, 426 00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:16,520 is how did our ancestors navigate their way 427 00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:19,720 across a third of the Earth's surface? 428 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:24,040 (BIRD CHIRPS) 429 00:29:24,440 --> 00:29:28,400 The Bishop Museum holds taonga from across the Pacific. 430 00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:32,200 The great historian and politician, Te Rangi Hiroa, 431 00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:36,160 Sir Peter Buck, was once director here. 432 00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:40,520 He devoted much of his life to studying the similarities between 433 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:43,400 our Pacific origin stories. 434 00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:47,600 - There are multiple stories that talk about our origins. 435 00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:51,920 We have the Kumulipo ― it's the creation story of Hawai'i ― 436 00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:54,440 but we also have stories that talk about 437 00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:57,400 our ancestral homeland of Kahiki. 438 00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:01,120 What we really believe is that, you know, we are part of the Pacific. 439 00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:03,120 We are connected with the ocean, 440 00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:06,960 and we are one contiguous family connected by the sea. 441 00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:08,960 - Over thousands of years, 442 00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:12,800 different environments and materials lead to the development of different 443 00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:15,720 style waka for different needs. 444 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:19,360 - They all have the same function, that they're meant to get someone 445 00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:21,720 from one place to another safely. - Mm. 446 00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:24,880 - But it's the various forms that they take, 447 00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:28,720 um, based off of the environment that they're part of. 448 00:30:28,720 --> 00:30:30,880 I think it really showcases, you know, 449 00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:33,960 the differences between deep-sea voyaging canoes, 450 00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:36,960 versus more shallow-water travel. 451 00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:40,840 The need for speed versus the need for the transportation of 452 00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:44,240 mass quantities of people or materials. 453 00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:51,360 - The revival of traditional sailing matauranga 454 00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:54,200 wouldn't have been possible without Hokule'a, 455 00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:58,160 which was built to revive ancient navigational knowledge. 456 00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:02,400 On its maiden voyage, Hokule'a travelled from Tahiti to Rapa Nui, 457 00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:06,800 proving these waka were capable of sailing east. 458 00:31:07,560 --> 00:31:11,120 I'm here to meet Captain Ka'iulani Murphy. 459 00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:13,760 - Once you leave land, and you get out to sea, 460 00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:17,680 um, I feel like, you know, things just seem a lot simpler, 461 00:31:17,680 --> 00:31:21,000 easier. You're more attentive. There's less distractions. 462 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:23,800 So, you know, watching every sunrise 463 00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:27,480 and sunset or watching every moonrise and moonset, 464 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:31,040 just seeing the way that the stars move across the sky at night. 465 00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:33,280 So I think things like that were also 466 00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:36,920 clues that our kupuna were so close 467 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:39,560 with the natural surroundings and reading the signs, 468 00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:43,000 and, yeah, I think that was part of the explorations. 469 00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:46,320 We're gonna keep going east and see what we can find. 470 00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:48,320 - Our navigators in traditional times, 471 00:31:48,320 --> 00:31:51,960 how do they compare with the navigators from elsewhere in the world? 472 00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:55,160 - Elsewhere? Oh, well, it's... (CHUCKLES) 473 00:31:55,160 --> 00:31:59,120 - And feel free to just, you know, blow your own trumpet and say, 'We're the best'. 474 00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:02,680 - Yeah, I was gonna say. - (LAUGHS) - I'm a little biased, so I think... 475 00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:06,640 yeah, I think our Polynesian ancestors were just amazing. 476 00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:10,600 You know, the astronauts of their time, really, right? 477 00:32:10,600 --> 00:32:14,400 The things that we're learning about how to navigate today, 478 00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:18,360 and to imagine them figuring that out before having, 479 00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:20,960 you know, the technology that we do today. 480 00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:23,920 When people ask me, they'll go, 'How do you think they knew where they were going?' 481 00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:26,960 And I think it's just they were smart enough to know, 482 00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:29,800 as far as they got, you know, if they were gonna run out of food or water, 483 00:32:29,800 --> 00:32:32,120 they could always turn around and go back home. 484 00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:35,760 - So, based on your experience and your expertise and all your knowledge, 485 00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:38,960 could we have sailed from the Pacific, 486 00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:42,520 here in eastern Polynesia, all the way to South America? 487 00:32:42,520 --> 00:32:44,600 - Absolutely. (CHUCKLES) - Absolutely? - Yes. 488 00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:46,600 - No doubt? - No doubt. - No doubt. 489 00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:50,360 - I think ― um, especially if we're looking at coming from Taiwan part 490 00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:53,000 of the ocean, coming into Polynesia ― 491 00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:56,640 I think that's almost harder to get to all the tiny islands. 492 00:32:56,640 --> 00:32:59,720 But then from these tiny islands to get to the continent, 493 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:03,400 I think that would be almost a little easier. 494 00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:06,160 Just continuing that trek east. 495 00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:12,120 - Taputapuatea in Raiatea, French Polynesia, 496 00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:15,800 was the sacred marae where my ancestors learned to navigate. 497 00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:20,040 Its equivalent here is Kukaniloko, 498 00:33:20,040 --> 00:33:23,360 an ancient birthing ground where the ariki shared knowledge 499 00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:26,440 they then took back to their villages. 500 00:33:26,440 --> 00:33:28,440 Aloha. - Aloha. 501 00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:33,000 - This is the very heart of the island of O'ahu. 502 00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:38,000 Tena koe. - Come. 503 00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:44,240 - Thank you again for today. It is so exciting. 504 00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:47,200 (CHANTS IN HAWAIIAN) 505 00:33:47,880 --> 00:33:51,680 - Like the petroglyphs in Marquesas and the moai in Rapa Nui, 506 00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:55,880 this site demonstrates how our ancestors used the materials they had 507 00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:59,520 to retain and share traditional knowledge across generations. 508 00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:01,760 Enei wananga whakatere waka o te ao, 509 00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:04,000 tawhito te ao, tau ki hoki tenei kia whakahuri. 510 00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:07,200 Kia tuturu o whiti whakamaua kia tina! 511 00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:09,560 Tina! Haumi e, hui e, 512 00:34:09,560 --> 00:34:11,560 taiki e. 513 00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:16,520 - OK. Maika'i. Thank you so much for that. 514 00:34:16,640 --> 00:34:18,680 Yeah. You make me all, 'Whoo!' 515 00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:20,680 - (BOTH CHUCKLE) 516 00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:27,120 - Kukaniloko connects with birth practices, 517 00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:30,640 it connects with genealogy and whakapapa ― 518 00:34:30,640 --> 00:34:33,440 how does it connect with navigation? Does it connect with navigation? 519 00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:35,680 - Oh yes. 520 00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:38,840 This stone here is the navigator seat. 521 00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:42,640 Well... Well, we call them the navigator seat. 522 00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:46,120 But from this point here to the highest stone there, 523 00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:48,520 that'll become the prow of the va'a, 524 00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:51,920 you know, the front end, nosing up from the ocean. 525 00:34:51,920 --> 00:34:54,520 So, this distance here is 60ft. 526 00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:56,800 60ft. 527 00:34:58,640 --> 00:35:01,800 From here, if you look upon all the stones, 528 00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:04,720 they got little peck marks on them too. 529 00:35:04,720 --> 00:35:07,920 So that would be like those star formations that we... 530 00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:10,440 might be used to give interpretation. 531 00:35:10,440 --> 00:35:12,440 - Mm. - Yeah. 532 00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:15,760 - Tom has one more thing to show me ― 533 00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:22,360 a whakapapa that dates right back and connects us all. 534 00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:29,120 - It is a connection of all our people. - Mm. 535 00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:31,920 - Yeah. - Ah, yeah, look, see, it comes down here to Hoturoa. 536 00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:34,200 - Oh yeah. - Whakatau-potiki, 537 00:35:34,640 --> 00:35:37,360 Hotuope, Hotumatapu. This is the whakapapa of Tainui here. 538 00:35:37,360 --> 00:35:40,120 There's the Maori King, Potatau Te Wherowhero, 539 00:35:40,120 --> 00:35:42,120 all the way back and connected right across the Pacific. 540 00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:44,120 - Yeah. - Wow. - And it goes right up. 541 00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:47,960 - I love this because now you can actually see, physically. - You actually see them. 542 00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:51,960 Yeah. - You can see our connections to Rarotonga, Hawai'i, 543 00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:54,240 Tahiti, Marquesas ― 544 00:35:54,240 --> 00:35:57,080 the ancestors are all there. - You see how happy you are? 545 00:35:57,080 --> 00:35:59,400 - Oh yeah. - Yeah? I imagine. - Yeah. I'm overwhelmed too. Yeah. 546 00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:01,400 (BOTH CHUCKLE) 547 00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:06,440 I mean, that whakapapa ― 548 00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:10,520 that's really woven everything together for me, 549 00:36:10,520 --> 00:36:14,440 seeing that whakapapa. I could follow our genealogy 550 00:36:14,440 --> 00:36:17,480 that was on that whakapapa, look at where it goes across 551 00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:20,120 and see how it connects us with Hawaiians, 552 00:36:20,120 --> 00:36:23,320 see how it connects us with Rarotongans, 553 00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:25,480 see how it connects us with Tahitians, Marquesas. 554 00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:27,760 You look at that whakapapa, 555 00:36:27,760 --> 00:36:30,920 and you see the names of the ancestors that we all have in common. 556 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:33,280 That's what I've been looking for. 557 00:36:33,320 --> 00:36:37,280 The whole time on this journey, I've been looking for something like that, and then I just saw it. 558 00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:39,560 And so that's just, like... 559 00:36:40,320 --> 00:36:43,600 Whoo, that's... (SIGHS) That's hard to put into words. 560 00:36:43,600 --> 00:36:47,200 It's hard to put into words. It's almost... 561 00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:51,160 Everything's come together here, in this circle, 562 00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:53,400 on this island of O'ahu. 563 00:36:57,280 --> 00:36:59,280 (MYSTICAL MUSIC) 564 00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:03,440 - (SINGS IN HAWAIIAN) 565 00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:13,320 - At the start of this hikoi, I saw the ocean as a great wall 566 00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:15,320 that separated us from the rest of the world. 567 00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:19,160 But now, I realise the ocean is actually what connected us. 568 00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:21,280 (GROUP PERFORMS HAKA) 569 00:37:26,160 --> 00:37:28,160 I've returned in time for the opening 570 00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:32,120 of our navigation school in the far north. 571 00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:34,720 It's the triumphant result of decades 572 00:37:34,720 --> 00:37:37,680 of hard work by our pioneering navigators, 573 00:37:37,680 --> 00:37:41,200 including the late, great Sir Heke-nuku-mai Busby, 574 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:43,880 who many of us are thinking of today. 575 00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:47,320 - ALL: Au, aue ha! 576 00:37:47,320 --> 00:37:49,320 - (BLOWS SHELL) 577 00:37:50,080 --> 00:37:52,280 - And the Hawaiian whanau are here, 578 00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:56,240 acknowledging our shared history as people of Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. 579 00:37:56,240 --> 00:37:58,440 - (SPEAKS IN HAWAIIAN) 580 00:38:03,520 --> 00:38:06,720 (GROUP SINGS IN HAWAIIAN, DRUM BEATS) 581 00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:10,560 - We started as one people, 582 00:38:10,560 --> 00:38:13,160 and through our knowledge and skill on the ocean, 583 00:38:13,160 --> 00:38:16,040 became separate cultures. 584 00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:18,360 There's something beautiful about the fact 585 00:38:18,360 --> 00:38:21,960 it's our rediscovery of the ancient science of navigation 586 00:38:21,960 --> 00:38:24,840 that's bringing us back together. 587 00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:28,880 Papa Hek nicknamed the Hawaiian navigators Ngati Ruawahia 588 00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:32,840 after the star that sits directly above Hawai'i. 589 00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:35,400 - Kia ora, a Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. 590 00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:38,400 - ALL: Kia ora, a Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. 591 00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:42,080 - This is our world, eh. 592 00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:45,760 Our tupuna sailed this ocean. 593 00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:48,160 They travelled this ocean. 594 00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:50,440 Respect,... 595 00:38:50,640 --> 00:38:53,000 Because they knew, you know, 596 00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:57,080 we could sail through this ocean using our traditions. 597 00:38:57,080 --> 00:39:00,040 You know, you learn how to feel the ocean through the canoe. 598 00:39:00,280 --> 00:39:03,240 And then we were always taught by Maori, you know, 599 00:39:03,240 --> 00:39:06,760 the navigator's your father, the canoe's your mother, and you're the child. 600 00:39:06,760 --> 00:39:10,160 They take you and lead you into the ocean. 601 00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:12,360 Yeah. - Ataahua. - Ae. 602 00:39:12,760 --> 00:39:15,560 - If I got you, you know, the waka hourua, 603 00:39:15,560 --> 00:39:17,680 and took it over to Rapa Nui, 604 00:39:17,680 --> 00:39:21,640 and said 'Stan, can you sail this waka across to South America?' 605 00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:25,280 You reckon you could do it? - Yeah. It's a straight line. - (LAUGHS) 606 00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:27,280 Easy? - Easy. - (LAUGHS) 607 00:39:27,280 --> 00:39:29,840 - As long as the weather's good, and the ocean's good, 608 00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:32,440 there's fear with us, but yeah. 609 00:39:35,200 --> 00:39:37,200 - It's not tropical here in the north, 610 00:39:37,200 --> 00:39:40,360 but it's not far off shorts and jandals all year round. 611 00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:43,680 So it's really interesting to me just how far south 612 00:39:43,680 --> 00:39:45,680 some of those early waka travelled. 613 00:39:45,680 --> 00:39:47,760 (SPEAKS IN TE REO MAORI) 614 00:40:05,240 --> 00:40:08,720 Archaeologists have found evidence our waka went all the way south 615 00:40:08,720 --> 00:40:11,080 to the sub-Antarctic Maungahuka. 616 00:40:11,080 --> 00:40:15,040 There was no permanent settlement there, but a new discovery near Dunedin 617 00:40:15,040 --> 00:40:18,320 shows our ancestors were experimenting with kumara 618 00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:22,480 far further south than archaeologists had believed. 619 00:40:23,080 --> 00:40:26,360 I'm being shown over the site by Dr Ian Barber 620 00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:29,600 and Rachel Wesley, who has whakapapa here. 621 00:40:29,600 --> 00:40:32,720 What do we have here? - In the 15th century, 622 00:40:32,720 --> 00:40:35,880 people excavated out rectangular pits 623 00:40:35,880 --> 00:40:37,880 in the precise form of 624 00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:40,520 rua kumara, the pits that, 625 00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:42,520 further north of here, 626 00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:44,840 were used to store kumara. 627 00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:49,400 - How did they keep it warm enough? - We found some very large rocks ― 628 00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:52,600 in fact, the size of boulders ― inside some of these pits. 629 00:40:52,600 --> 00:40:55,720 And it may well be that when it got particularly cold, 630 00:40:55,720 --> 00:40:59,680 people were able to heat up very large rocks and place them inside the pit, 631 00:40:59,800 --> 00:41:03,760 because you need to have your pits at about 10 degrees Celsius, 632 00:41:03,760 --> 00:41:06,840 uh, to ensure that your kumara roots, 633 00:41:06,840 --> 00:41:09,640 uh, remain healthy and will live. 634 00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:12,760 - How did you feel when you got the call from Ian 635 00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:15,560 about this wonderful discovery of rua kumara? 636 00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:18,920 - Surprising, but kind of not surprising at the same time. 637 00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:21,960 - (CHUCKLES) And it must have been remarkable, 638 00:41:21,960 --> 00:41:24,080 to have this kind of information, 639 00:41:24,080 --> 00:41:27,680 the scientific information, to back up your oral traditions. 640 00:41:27,680 --> 00:41:30,840 - It's always really nice when archaeology backs up, um, 641 00:41:30,840 --> 00:41:33,320 our history and stories as well. - Yeah. 642 00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:36,840 - It kind of makes sense in terms of storage considering, you know, 643 00:41:36,840 --> 00:41:40,080 the trade networks that we had down here. 644 00:41:40,080 --> 00:41:42,800 Things were moving from one end of the country to the other, 645 00:41:42,800 --> 00:41:46,600 and also, Kai Tahu, any claim that we have to being, you know, 646 00:41:46,600 --> 00:41:50,200 the best, the southernmost, the most forward at sea travel, 647 00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:52,400 we'll take that. (LAUGHTER) 648 00:41:52,400 --> 00:41:55,520 - So all of us people up in the North Island who've been rubbishing you for years, 649 00:41:55,520 --> 00:41:59,480 say 'You can't grow kumara down there,' we're all wrong because here's the proof. 650 00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:02,280 - Ana to kai. - Ana to kai, yeah! - (LAUGHTER) 651 00:42:02,280 --> 00:42:05,080 CHUCKLES: Tena koe. Yeah, ka pai. 652 00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:11,000 After a 3000km journey to Aotearoa, 653 00:42:11,200 --> 00:42:13,680 we were still eastern Polynesians, 654 00:42:13,680 --> 00:42:16,040 but our ability to adapt and survive here 655 00:42:16,040 --> 00:42:18,200 enabled us to become tangata whenua. 656 00:42:18,200 --> 00:42:22,000 Now, my ancestors say that when our waka, Te Arawa, landed right here in Maketu, 657 00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:24,440 there was a wahine toa on board, Whakaotirangi. 658 00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:28,400 She looked after the kumara all the way from Hawaiki to here, 659 00:42:28,400 --> 00:42:30,720 and every waka would have had a wahine toa like her. 660 00:42:30,720 --> 00:42:34,520 Aotea had Rongorongo and Horouta had Kahukura. 661 00:42:34,520 --> 00:42:36,600 (GENTLE MYSTICAL MUSIC) 662 00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:43,880 You know you're back home when you can smell that. 663 00:42:44,760 --> 00:42:48,520 Whakaotirangi planted kumara here in Maketu, 664 00:42:48,520 --> 00:42:50,800 which enabled us to settle, and 665 00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:53,480 we're still growing and eating it here today. 666 00:42:53,480 --> 00:42:57,200 This is it, mate. That's what it's been all about, e te iwi ― 667 00:42:57,200 --> 00:43:00,280 kumara. 668 00:43:01,520 --> 00:43:03,760 I love being back with the whanau, 669 00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:07,720 and sharing a meal with everybody after being away for so long. 670 00:43:07,720 --> 00:43:11,200 And been to Hawai'i, Rapa Nui, Marquesas, 671 00:43:11,200 --> 00:43:13,920 corners of the Polynesian Triangle and Aotearoa, 672 00:43:13,920 --> 00:43:16,040 everything seems to have come that much closer together. 673 00:43:16,040 --> 00:43:18,040 - Kia ora. 674 00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:20,120 - (SPEAKS IN TE REO MAORI) 675 00:43:33,440 --> 00:43:36,040 They brought with them all kinds of plants ― 676 00:43:36,040 --> 00:43:39,560 hue, taro and, of course, 677 00:43:39,560 --> 00:43:42,680 the mighty kumara, and it's still here with us today. 678 00:43:42,680 --> 00:43:44,680 (SPEAKS IN TE REO MAORI) 679 00:43:47,160 --> 00:43:50,360 Once they knew they could grow it here, they could live here, 680 00:43:50,440 --> 00:43:54,400 and once they could live here, they became tangata whenua ― 681 00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:57,280 the people of this land, Aotearoa. 682 00:43:58,480 --> 00:44:00,800 Very good stuff. - Came a long way, that kumara. 683 00:44:00,800 --> 00:44:03,400 - Came a long way. - That sweetness. Mmm. 684 00:44:03,400 --> 00:44:05,680 There's a saying, yeah,... 685 00:44:06,960 --> 00:44:09,280 I don't know how it talks, but... (LAUGHTER) 686 00:44:09,280 --> 00:44:12,360 the kumara doesn't talk about its own sweetness. 687 00:44:12,360 --> 00:44:15,640 - Kaore te kumara e te korero, full stop. 688 00:44:15,800 --> 00:44:19,360 - After all this time and this journey,... - Yeah, why did you go away? 689 00:44:19,360 --> 00:44:26,240 - ...I could have just come here and sat with the whanau and learnt all about it here. 690 00:44:26,240 --> 00:44:27,240 www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2023.