The quiet recovery of Māori heritage sites devastated by Cyclone Gabrielle
As people fled their homes to avoid rising floodwaters in Hawkes Bay and Tairawhiti amid the havoc of Cyclone Gabrielle , a small team of the countrys top cultural heritage experts was instead planning on how they could get to stricken areas. Two months on from the disaster, many of those experts including from Te Papa and Heritage New Zealand remain on the ground, with the true scale of devastation to many marae from Dargaville to Feilding only now being revealed. But as climate change threatens more frequent and more extreme weather events, the experts who hold specialist knowledge on the care of taonga and matauranga Maori (Maori knowledge) have an ongoing and increasing concern about the need to future-proof and protect New Zealands Maori heritage. On the ground in cyclone-affected areas, the experts work has been extensive, intimate, and, at times, emotional, dealing with communities which have had urupa washed out, cultural heritage sites exposed, or Maori built heritage and taonga Maori damaged by silt, mud, water and mould . READ MORE: * Kingitanga will visit Hawke's Bay to hear from cyclone-hit whanau * Rawiri Taonui: How the rain falls differently upon Maori * Maori ministers visit whanau, marae in Hawke's Bay and Far North's heavy cyclone-impact areas Their job has been to provide support and guidance in taking care of and managing those damaged taonga and sites. Te Papa first received calls from Tangoio Marae north of Napier one week after the cyclone, with staff travelling up the week of February 20, said Migoto Eria, the national museums head of matauranga Maori. Work since then has included creating direct access to expert advice with the museums conservators who specialise in Maori textiles, books, manuscripts, photographs, paintings and whakairo (carvings); and providing advice on packing, storage and cataloguing. Both Te Papa and Heritage New Zealand have also provided affected communities with cleaning and packing materials, and helped them apply for funding where appropriate. But storing large collections of taonga had been a significant challenge, Eria said, particularly storage that was suitable for communities: being near the marae, accessible, and with secure and dry conditions. Being on the ground with our iwi and listening to what it is they need support with is absolutely critical, Eria said. Other focuses for the experts have included helping Omahu Marae in the Hastings district with damage to its urupa, including managing and collating humans remains that had surfaced and repairing damage to headstones, and helping Hukarere Girls College in Eskdale to uplift its chapel altar and pulpit that are carved with whakairo and tukutuku panels . Takitimu Marae in Wairoa was another location experts helped to dry out and repair in the cyclones immediate aftermath. But Tangoio Marae had the most devastation, said Eria. Most of the advice and support provided was around deinstalling, cataloguing and cleaning the poupou and tukutuku panels from its Punanga Te Wao meeting house, with the next phases being packing and storage of those taonga. Otago University and Heritage NZ experts were also involved in dealing with the uplifting of human remains at a separate location not far from Omahu Marae that was later confirmed as an archaeological pa site. Weve worked as a team from the time we first arrived, said Eria, who grew up in Napier and whose whakapapa is Ngati Kahungunu. More recently, teams have been working with Omahu Marae on a large collection of old kowhaiwhai panels and pou whakairo (carved figure) believed to date back to the 19th Century that surfaced. Eria spoke of communities relief at the experts presence, and her own shock at the displacement of iwi and trauma that marae had experienced. Its a lot to take in. ... Being with the descendants and on their whenua is huge privilege. As marae often act as emergency refuges and welfare centres that host, feed and house people in crisis, when they experience flooding its particularly painful, said Ellen Andersen, a director of Heritage NZs Maori heritage team. Marae that allowed other more badly damaged marae to receive help after the event were now asking for support themselves, Andersen said. The agency was acutely aware of the increasing threat of climate change to Maori land and sites, which were often located on at-risk coastal areas and rivers. Andersen warned that with any major weather event or even earthquakes, protected heritage sites could be exposed or surfaced, and it was something people should be cognisant of in any act of clean-up. Now the immediate response was over, the experts work mainly consisted of empowering iwi with the knowledge and advice to manage and care for their own taonga moving forward. Resilience and future-proofing were critical, Andersen said. What steps can they take to be able to survive without damage in the next big weather event? The Government previously announced $15 million in relief funding for Maori communities affected by Cyclone Gabrielle.