Visit to Te Wānanga-o-Raukawa

May I begin by greeting everyone in the languages of the realm of New Zealand, in English, Māori, Cook Island Māori, Niuean, Tokelauan and New Zealand Sign Language.  

Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni and as it is the afternoon (Sign)

May I specifically greet you: Mereana Selby, Tumuaki of Te Wānanga-o-Raukawa and your fellow staff; Iwikatea Nicholson, kaumatua; Students and alumni; members of the Wānanga Board; Distinguished Guests otherwise; Ladies and Gentlemen. 

Thank you for inviting my wife Susan and I to visit Te Wānanga-o-Raukawa here in Ōtaki today.

I would like to take this opportunity to speak a little of the significance of Te Wānanga-o-Raukawa.

At the outset, I would also like to acknowledge two people who are unable to be here today.  In particular, I wish to acknowledge, the Chair of the Wānanga Board, Turoa Royal, and as well Professor Emeritus Whatarangi Winiata.  Both men have made a significant contribution to education in our country, not only in a Māori context, but otherwise also.

For almost 30 years, Te Wānanga-o-Raukawa has served as a centre of higher learning for the Confederation of Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Raukawa and Ngāti Toarangatira.

Established in 1981, it was unique in tertiary landscape in, as your website notes in outlining your guiding principles, in that it was "established by iwi, for iwi and of the iwi."

In this context, it was part of what many call the Māori renaissance, and specifically of a Māori educational renaissance that embraced education at all levels. 

It is not surprising then that, for example, the National Kōhanga Reo Trust Board was established just a year later.  Indeed, one of the Board's founders, Iritana Tawhiwhirangi, was honoured in this year's Queen's Birthday Honours when she was made a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

And just as kōhanga reo have played such a vital role in nurturing te reo Māori-one of our nation's sacred treasures-so too have wānanga protected and nurtured tikanga Māori.

The two things - te reo Māori and tikanga Māori - are intimately linked.   The language, devoid of the depth of cultural custom, or the Māori custom without the language, is but an empty vessel. 

It reminds me of walking along a beach and sensing what feels like an appetising pipi beneath your feet.  But, sometimes, if you bring it to the surface, you find that it is empty and that while the ligament that holds the two shells together remains, the nourishing food within has gone and all that remains is sand. 

But the vision of wānanga, and this institution in particular, is that tikanga Māori should not remain in a vacuum or on display in a glass case, the preserve of a few.  If one approaches culture and custom in this way then the future is akin to that of an empty pipi shell.

That idea has not always been widely recognised.  While Te Wānanga-o-Raukawa was established in 1981, it was more than decade before the Crown recognised this institution as a wānanga under amendments to the Education Act.

It was therefore pleasing to see that last year the Government concluded a deed of settlement with Te Wānanga-o-Raukawa to resolve its Waitangi Tribunal claim.  In doing so, there was an acknowledgement of failure to provide wānanga with capital establishment grants in a similar manner pertaining to mainstream tertiary institutions.

The settlement also recognised that like te reo Māori, tikanga Māori it is a sacred treasure and a birth right to be nurtured and shared, first and foremost among Māori.

That is why Te Wānanga-o-Raukawa's courses include an iwi and hapū component and te reo Māori studies.  Whether those courses are in Mātauranga Māori, environmental studies or social work, teaching and entrepreneurship, it gives students an opportunity to understand their whānau, hapū and iwi.  For many urban Māori in particular, whose connection with their cultural origins maybe sometimes tenuous, it is often a moment of awakening.

And this wānanga does so, not by tacking tikanga Māori on to courses or offering it as an "optional extra", but by infusing it through the teaching and indeed throughout the institution and the way it operates.

The result is that students graduate from this institution with a host of marketable skills for a variety of working environments in the wider world, and with a better understanding of themselves and their place in their culture, whānau, hapū and iwi.   It is by understanding ourselves that we are better able to understand the world around us. There is an apposite Māori proverb that makes this point well.  In English it goes:

The bird that eats of the miro berry owns the forest.
But the bird that eats of education owns the world.

Which translates in Māori as:

Ko te manu e kai ana i te miro - nōna te ngahere.
Engari te manu e kai ana i te mātauranga - nōna te ao.

And on that optimistic note, I will close in Māori, New Zealand's first language, by offering everyone greetings and wishing you all good health and fortitude in your endeavours.   No reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tēnā koutou katoa.