Heritage Talk - Kaumātua o Tamaterau

Life stories through the lens

Talk date: 27 June 2024.

Public response to the Kaumātua o Tamaterau Life stories and photographic exhibition was phenomenal and for many, intensely moving. The exhibition brought to the fore, the life stories of a selection of kaumātua of Te Tāwera o Ngāti Pūkenga; hau kainga whose origins are in the Bay of Plenty. For almost 200 years, they have continued to maintain ahikāroa (the long burning fires of occupation) of their ancestral land – Pakikaikutu, Tamaterau. 

Who are Te Tāwera o Ngāti Pūkenga?

What significant cultural events occurred to bring Te Tāwera o Ngāti Pūkenga to Tai Tokerau?

How did they come to settle on lands at Tamaterau?

Who are the kaumātua and what are their stories?

June went on a historical journey that provided insight into one of the lesser known and more recent addition to the interwoven Tribes of Whangārei.

Watch the talk on YouTube:

Kaumātua o Tamaterau: Life stories through the lens by June Pitman

Photo above of Tamaterau, Whangārei.

The book

Kaumātua o Tamaterau: Life stories through the lens

By June Pitman

Photography by Claire Gordon.

An extension of the popular 2021 Kāumata o Tamaterau Life Stories and Photographic Exhibition, this limited edition book features living experience oral-history stories as told by a select number of local Māori whose families have remained living, occupying and farming their ancestral lands for more than five generations.

This book is in the library catalogue

About June Pitman

Te Tāwera o Ngāti Pūkenga, Patuharakeke, Te Parawhau, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Wai.
Brought up on her ancestral land at Tamaterau, June returned home in October 2020 to maintain whakapapa connections to the whenua and to carry out the responsibilities of kaitiaki. With an extensive career in events, project management, music and the creative arts, June is passionate about Māori cultural heritage, is author of a range of dual-language children's picture books with waiata and is a published poet.

Motumoana Enerprises Ltd | June Pitman's website