Latest news with #FarNorth
RNZ News
2 days ago
- General
- RNZ News
Anchor rediscovery reopens wounds from early encounter between Māori, European
The rediscovery of one of New Zealand's oldest European artifacts has reopened scars from an early encounter between Māori and a European explorer. An anchor that once belonged to the French ship Saint Jean Baptiste, captained by Jean-Francois Marie de Surville, has been located in the waters of Doubtless Bay in the Far North. In a storm in 1769 they lost an anchor and had to cut two more loose. Two of them have already been found - and the 3rd was discovered by Kelly Tarlton in 1982 - however the co-ordinates were misplaced until now. Photo: Hamish Williams Chair of Ngāti Kahu and Professor of Māori Studies at the University of Auckland Margaret Mutu said the crew of the Saint Jean Baptiste arrived in Doubtless Bay "in great disarray", several had scurvy and were nursed back to health by members of Ngāti Kahu. "That time of the year in December, January we know up at Karikari that that's a time when you're subjected to the tail ends of cyclones that come down from the Pacific, it happens every year. So storms were quite common and during a storm apparently one of their boats... got washed ashore. You know things get washed ashore up there at home, they're ours and we'll take them." Mutu said de Surville and his crew then "turned on" Ngāti Kahu, ransacked their kāinga (settlement) and then kidnapped a local rangatira named Ranginui. He latter died of thirst and scurvy aboard the Saint Jean Baptiste. The kidnapping was a portent of what was to come not unlike when Captain James Cook made first landfall at Tūranga, a visit that ended when the British killed or wounded nine Māori, she said. Ngāti Kahu chair Margaret Mutu Photo: RNZ / Leigh-Marama McLachlan Many years later Ngāti Kahu were approached at Haiti-tai-marangai Marae, not far from where the ship lost anchor, asking them to support a plaque commemorating de Surville, she said. "We talked about it at Haiti-tai-marangai... our mātua told us what had happened and we told those people to go away, we don't want to know about your de Surville." But she said the recovery of the anchor may be a chance to discuss this part of New Zealand's history. Mutu said one of the first things she did when she heard about this find was to ring home and make sure people there had heard it too. "Well people didn't know about it, so that's the first thing, we need to know about it, we need to sit down and talk about it and we will decide what happens to that anchor. "I just get a little bit annoyed about that people came into our territory, we welcomed them, we nursed them back to health, we saved them, they did the dirty on us and now they're coming back and telling us 'we're going to this, we're going to that, we're going to do the other.'" Heritage New Zealand have recommended the site of the anchor remain undisturbed until tangata whenua have been consulted, and the area can be assessed by a professional archaeologist. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Tenth anniversary of Kaeo boil water notice
health rural 15 minutes ago This month Kaeo is marking a ten-year anniversary. But it's not a milestone anyone's celebrating, because it's the 10th anniversary of the Far North town's boil-water notice. Reporter Peter de Graaf has more.
RNZ News
2 days ago
- General
- RNZ News
Ten years of boiling water in Kāeo: 'They just can't rely on the water'
Kāeo chef Anna Valentine demonstrates the rigmarole involved in getting drinkable water. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf It has been 10 years since residents in the small Far North town of Kāeo were placed under a boil-water notice - but it is not a milestone anyone is celebrating. Chef and cooking teacher Anna Valentine, who lives on Kāeo's main street, is among those affected. She said she had never been able to drink from the tap, and at times she could not even use the water for laundry. "I wasn't able to do my washing without it turning brown, basically. And every now and then it would just be super-brown, and then it would get clearer, and sometimes it would go off, and we wouldn't know, so we'd be out of water and we'd be calling up to see what happened. It's just been a roller coaster." Valentine said the colour of the water had improved in recent years, but it was still no good for drinking. In July 2015, Northland's Medical Officer of Health issued a boil-water notice due to levels of E. coli bacteria found in the water. That notice had never been lifted. Kāeo Water supplies just under 30 customers - a mix of homes, businesses and public facilities such as the toilets and community hall - on State Highway 10, the town's main street. Rather than face the cost of constantly boiling water, the Valentines have rigged up a tank for catching rainwater and every day they use it to fill up bottles for drinking water. Valentine said she had organised public meetings and lobbied the council in the past, but little had changed. "The water needs to be drinkable out of the tap, for the kids that go to the community hall, and the people coming through town. They don't know that it's not drinkable. The businesses in town, a lot of them have installed their own rainwater tanks because they just can't rely on the water." Kāeo chef Anna Valentine says her children have never known what it's like to drink out of a tap. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf Until the year 2000 Kāeo's water supply was owned by the Far North District Council. The council sold it to Doubtless Bay Water, which quit in 2008, saying it was not economically viable. It was then taken on by Wai Care Environmental Consultants. Kāeo Water operator Bryce Aldridge said it was difficult keeping up with ever-changing drinking water standards, especially for a small scheme like Kāeo's. "And the government's not assisting with the upgrading that's needed to meet those standards, because of the size of plant that we are." Aldridge said he had never put up the price of water, and only a small minority complained about the quality. "It's actually only one client … I have spoken to the other clients, and this is their fear [if the system is upgraded]: the water price going up, and the battle of having to put fluoride in our water, so a boil water notice actually protects us there." The Ministry of Health has recently ordered the Far North District Council to add fluoride to its Kerikeri and Kaitāia town water supplies, but a spokesperson told RNZ the ministry did not order fluoridation of privately-owned water supplies. Aldridge said the discolouration was caused by iron and manganese naturally present in the source water from the Waikara Stream. Removing iron and manganese completely was difficult and required multiple treatment stages. He said the next step for the water scheme would be to move the plant to a new location, and introduce UV treatment. He told RNZ he had secured a new location just last week, but that had yet to be confirmed. Kāeo's private water treatment plant, on School Gully Road, draws from the Waikara Stream. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf Aldridge said he welcomed media scrutiny because it had caught the attention of Taumata Arowai, the national water authority, and had bumped Kāeo's water supply up its priority list. Taumata Arowai head of operations Steve Taylor said even a small private drinking water supply such as Kāeo's had to meet the requirements of the Water Services Act 2021 and other rules. The authority had sent a letter outlining its expectations in March, but a meeting scheduled that month had been cancelled by the supplier. Expectations included boil-water notice communication with consumers, and providing a confirmed, funded plan for achieving compliance with legal requirements. Taylor said those expectations had not yet been met. The authority had set a new date of 23 July for meeting the supplier and inspecting the plant. Taylor said boil water notices were only meant to be a temporary solution, because over time people could forget and risked drinking contaminated water. The authority could take action if it believed a supplier was not responding adequately to concerns about unsafe drinking water or failed persistently to comply with legal requirements. That could include requiring the local authority, in this case the Far North District Council, to take over the supply. All Kāeo Water's customers are based on the Far North town's main street. Photo: RNZ/Peter de Graaf Te Rūnanga o Whaingaroa pou arahi, or cultural manager, Raniera Kaio said the scheme had suffered from buck-passing between the council and the operator as to who was responsible. He believed the only way to fix it was by the council, the operator and iwi working together. "My personal opinion, indeed my professional opinion, is that the operator lacks the resources to fix it. Lacks the resources to fix it alone . It has to be a collaborative solution." Kaio said the water plant had been inundated in the 2007 floods and never fully recovered. The boil-water notice also had a financial effect on the rūnanga, which spent $300-$400 a month on bottled water for staff and manuhiri [visitors]. He said Kāeo's water woes were emblematic of the neglect suffered by many rural, Māori-majority towns. The effects went well beyond the cost and inconvenience of having to boil water or buy it by the bottle. "It's about the dignity of Kāeo, the mana of Kāeo. And whānau in Kāeo have lived with daily anxiety around whether their water is safe to drink, that really affects not only your health, your hauora [wellbeing], but it sort of affects your own self-worth and your identity as being from Kāeo." However, Kaio said he was buoyed by news that Taumata Arowai was about to meet the operator, and hopeful a solution could be found. Meanwhile, Anna Valentine just hoped one day soon her children would be able to drink water out of the tap. "I mean, we live in New Zealand, but it feels like we're in a bit of a third world country up here in Kāeo, having to go out every day and fill our plastic bottles from a water container that we collect off the roof. It's just crazy, actually." Kāeo's boil-water notice is not the longest-running one in the country. A 2024 Drinking Water Regulation Report stated 74 long-term "consumer advisories" - which include boil-water notices - were in place at the end of last year, and 20 council supplies serving a total of 7000 people had advisories in place for three or more years. "The persistence of long-term consumer advisories represents a significant regulatory and public health challenge," the report stated. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
4 days ago
- RNZ News
Reviving Lake Ōmāpere
Next week a group from the Lake Ōmāpere Trust in the Far North will head to Brisbane to present at the World Lake Conference. They were invited based on their plan to return the lake to ecological health. The small rōpū going includes 93 year old kuia Ani Martin, the brains behind the project, travelling overseas for the first time. Lake Omapere Trustee Marise Stuart talks to Susie. Lake Ōmāpere was once known as the food basket of Ngāpuhi. These days it's heavily polluted and mostly devoid of life. Photo: Supplied / Paul Champion, NIWA
Scoop
5 days ago
- Health
- Scoop
He Manuao: New Video Series Celebrates Youth-Led Hauora Solutions In Te Hiku
Press Release – Healthy Families Far North Launched under the Taikorihi Locality in partnership with Native Sports Performance, He Manuao Subsidy Fund was developed to support the health and wellbeing of Te Hiku taitamariki, subsidising costs like fees, uniforms, transport and gear. A new short-form video series – He Manuao – is set to launch next week, offering a powerful glimpse into what's possible when taitamariki are supported to lead and design their own solutions. The four-part series showcases the broader and deeper impact of a one-off, youth-led fund that helped to remove barriers many young people face when accessing sport and physical activity – presenting a compelling case for funders, policymakers and community leaders to consider community-led approaches to funding. The first episode follows the journey of He Manuao, the taitamariki leadership group and the process behind the fund. The remaining episodes feature three taitamatāne from Pawarenga, Kaitāia and Te Kao, providing an intimate and personal look into what gets them moving, keeping their taha tinana, taha hinegaro, taha wairua and taha whānau well. Launched under the Taikorihi Locality in partnership with Native Sports Performance, He Manuao Subsidy Fund was developed to support the health and wellbeing of Te Hiku taitamariki, subsidising costs like fees, uniforms, transport and gear. The fund invested $35,450 directly into taitamariki-led solutions, supported 50 young people across 12 distinct communities and funded 26 different activities. Whānau and community members celebrated the release of the series at a special premiere event in Kaitāia on Monday night, sharing the impact this fund has had on taitamariki as decision makers, and how the fund has directly improved access to sports and physical activity for young people in Te Hiku – addressing financial barriers and pathways to better health in the Far North. Speaking at the event, a grandparent of one of the participants who received the fund, said it was heartwarming to see activities that aren't often highlighted as sport or physical activity. 'We know diving, hunting and kapa haka are some of the things that a lot of our mokopuna and our whānau do in their everyday life… it's beautiful to watch what that looks like through their eyes and to see what it takes to do the things they love to do.' 'I want to acknowledge the work that has been done to build the confidence of these individuals, particularly our young men here in Te Hiku,' said another whānau member who attended on the night. One parent also thanked He Manuao for the support it had provided as a sole income-earning parent. Māori Systems Innovator of Healthy Families Far North, Elizabeth Motu, said the series captures how our health systems, funders, and investors can drive equity, wellbeing, and long-term collective change. 'Tonight has been a really special occasion where we've been able to invite everyone involved, from design to delivery, and to celebrate what it means to be from Te Hiku.' she said. 'First and foremost, I want to thank our taitamariki who led and designed this fund for their community. Hearing what this fund has meant for some of our whānau here tonight is a testament to their commitment to ensuring it reached those hard-to-reach places that sometimes get forgotten. 'I also want to thank our three taitamatāne and their whānau for allowing us to come into their homes and for trusting us to share their stories. Lastly, to Native Sports Performance, for trying something different and for leading the way when it comes to supporting taitamariki-led solutions that reflect their lived realities and aspirations.' 'We now know that by shaking up the status quo, and by doing things differently, we can better support the long-term health of our young people,' she added. Healthy Families Far North hopes He Manuao sparks deeper conversations about what equitable investment truly looks like, encouraging more partnerships that enable whānau and taitamariki to shape the systems that affect them. The first episode of He Manuao is out on Monday 21 July, with a new episode released on Thursday 24 July. The remaining two episodes will follow the week after via the Healthy Families Far North website and social media pages. To learn more, share the series, or explore how you might support similar approaches, visit or get in touch.
