In April a small cohort of MOTsoc members visited Ihumātao where we were taken on a guided tour of the Ōtuataua Stonefields Reserve by Layna Tawha-King and Elleshia Aiono from Te Ihu a Mataoho. The stonefields is an historic commercial garden built in the 15th century using Polynesian farming techniques that utilised the sun to heat stone wrapped garden beds and warm the soil for temperate crops.
Standing at the highest point, our guides pointed out key features in the landscape, including the emptiness of maunga long quarried away. They shared stories of their ancestors and how those stories named the area and its features. They also shared a timeline of how the huge garden and its surrounding village were encroached upon in the 1840 and 50s, to the alienation and raupatu (confiscation) of the land in the 1860s, through to a reclamation, including the recent eviction and resulting protest in 2019.
The tour was followed by a rongoā (herbal/plant remedies and Māori medicines) demonstration and a walk through the rongoā gardens the iwi is currently cultivating. This was a unique MOTsoc trip to better understand mātauranga māori and Tamaki Makaurau Auckland’s deep social history. We hope to return again soon and seek out similar opportunities for learning for the MOTsoc members.
By Makyla Curtis
Photos by Scott Pilkington
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