I te tau 1842 i tae mae ōku tīpuna ki Whakatū. Kātahi rātou ka neke atu ki Waitaha.

I ako tōku tipuna tāne te reo Māori.

I noho tōku tīpuna katoa ki Waitaha.

Ko Maukatere tōku mauka.

Ko Rakahuri tōku awa.

The first of my ancestors arrived in Nelson in 1842 after battling a fierce storm on the voyage, much like Waitaha's founding ancestor Rākaihautū. Like Rākaihautū, after a time they moved south to Waitaha (Canterbury), however unlike Rākaihautū who was credited with carving out the lakes of Te Waipounamu with his digging stick, my ancestors became noted among other things, for building bridges.

Apparently it was Banks Peninsular where Rākaihautū eventually settled, and where my great grandfather as a young man, met a young Māori about his own age, and records in his memoirs that he taught his companion how to read and write, and in return began to learn te reo Māori.

The whakataukī, "mā whero, mā pango, ka oti te mahi' comes to mind.

Learning about the story of my own Pāhekā ancestors, and the parallels in their experience to the first explorers of the land who came centuries before them, it makes sense to understand the names and traditions associated with the places that were significant to them.

Also, if my Pākehā ancestor made the effort to learn te reo Māori when there were limited resources and little encouragement to do so, then learning it myself is a sign of respect for my own whakapapa, although we are Pākehā.

Sooner or later, whether it takes ten generations or a hundred, if Ngāi Tahu, who married into Waitaha's whakapapa, and my family continue to prosper and share the same rohe, then there's a good chance some descendants will eventually intermarry and share whakapapa, but even if this doesn't happen, there is already a connection with te reo Māori in my whakapapa, and it is good to know the original traditions associated with the wāhi associated with my whānau, as they already had stories before they became our treasured places.

As another whakataukī says, "Whatungarongaro te tangata, toitū te whenua."

My photo shows three generations of our whānau, exploring our awa,