Tongues of Ash
Page 4
12 found in the Introduction to Eggleton, D (ed.), Here on earth - the landscape in New Zealand literature, Craig Potton Publishing, Nelson.
13 big empty – a term used by the artist Grahame Sydney (during an interview on Radio New Zealand National, Summer Report, 3 January 2007) to describe the tussock country of Central Otago. This poem’s landscape is the high country to the east and south-east of the North Island’s volcanic plateau.
14 found in Dawson, C 2005, ‘The work of light and memory’, and Ward, P 2005, ‘Going Bush’, essays in Idiom Studio’s Camera Obscura Turi Park, http://www.idiom.co.nz/turi05.html, and in the titles of Turi Park’s Camera Obscura paintings.
15 Parihaka is a site of great historical and cultural importance in New Zealand. By 1870 it had become the largest Māori village in the country. It is situated near tribal land that had been confiscated by the Europeans in the Land Wars of the 1860s. In 1879, encroachment by settlers on this disputed land led Te Whiti, a Parihaka leader who was committed to non-violence, to order his followers to plough up the confiscated fields.
16 Karaka, kowhai, and rata are New Zealand native trees. Korimako (bell bird), tui, and huia (extinct) are native birds. Te Keepa Rangihiwinui fought alongside colonial forces in the Land Wars. Tāne Mahuta was a god who created plants, animals, trees, forests, then humans. Sir Walter Buller persuaded Te Keepa to sell his iwi’s (tribe’s) land when he got into financial difficulties after the wars. Wakefield was a founder of the ‘New Zealand Company’, which sold planned settlements to U.K. colonists. Settlers burnt off most North Island lowland forests in converting them to farmland.
17 whakapapa - genealogy.
18 Māori proverb: I am the land and the land is me
19 hui - meeting, gathering.
20 Hautonga - ‘Breath of the south wind’, a possible name for the Hutt River
21 awa - river, rivers
22 mihi - A formal greeting that may include an introduction (of one’s self) in which connection to one’s whakapapa (genealogy) is made through naming of parent’s and grandparents’ waka of origin and tribal affiliations. Connectedness to the land is made through naming of a river and a hill or mountain to which the speaker feels strong association.
23 wairua - spirit
24 Maui - A demi-god who caught the ‘fish’ of the North Island from the waka (canoe) of the South Island.
25 whānau - family
26 waiata - song
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