Iwi dreams of restoring life force to its degraded river

Wednesday, 14 July 2021

Ngāti Kauwhata has dreams of restoring the life force to the Ōroua River.

A Manawatū iwi has aspirations to restore the spirit of its river and lift a rāhui that has stood for nearly 60 years.

Feilding iwi Ngāti Kauwhata has an important connection to the Ōroua River, which flows from the Ruahine Range and through Feilding to the Manawatū River at Rangiotu.

Kauwhata used the river as a source of food and textiles, and as a means of travel and for rituals, while the life force, or mauri, of the river was also important.

But the Waitangi Tribunal heard on Wednesday how those things had deteriorated as a result of the river being polluted. A rāhui was placed on the river south of Feilding in 1964 and still hasn’t been lifted.

* Another week of Waitangi Tribunal hearings to begin in Feilding

* Traditional Māori way of life still recovering from actions of the Crown

The Manawatū ki Porirua inquiry continues at the Feilding Civic Centre this week, focusing on the historic sale of thousands of hectares of land between Kāpiti and Manawatū. The Ngāti Raukawa iwi confederation, which Ngāti Kauwhata is part of, claims the sale was done illegitimately.

Ngāti Kauwhata’s Dennis Emery said the iwi wanted discharge into the river to stop and to be able to lift the rāhui.

He said the iwi, as guardians of the river, wanted to preserve the river’s mauri.

“For us of Ngāti Kauwhata the Ōroua is like our mother. She feeds us. She clothes us. She spiritualises us. She cleans us and provides a basis of well-being.”

But due to pollution going into the river from meatworks, the township and the Feilding wastewater plant, the iwi placed a rāhui on the river, preventing people swimming or fishing in the river.

Emery said the river used to be a rich supply of food, including tuna.

“Our elders sometimes talk about the whakama, the shame, associated with no-one being able to provide tuna for our whānau and manuhiri (visitors).

“Since the 1960s we have not been able to gather kai downstream from the Feilding township.”

The iwi wants to restore the river so young people could do what their ancestors did.

Emery said the iwi had “immense love” for the river.

“We draw life from the mauri of these waters. The water from the Ōroua provides the basis of life for Ngāti Kauwhata.”

But most of their lives they have not been able to use the river because of discharge going into it, he said.

“Our dream is to restore the mauri of the Ōroua River to what is once was. It pains us to see how the Ōroua River has degraded over less than one generation.”

The river was also a source of flax and timber, but that disappeared with the drainage of wetlands.

The Ōroua River had once been the iwi’s “main highway” for travelling between settlements, and Emery said the river used to be narrower and deeper with fast, flowing water.

Kauwhata used river water for rituals, including washing the dead, or for drinking, bathing and cooking.

Now they had to rely on rain water or town supply.

The hearing continues.