Our research focuses on ‘kaitiakitanga’ and on ‘harbours’, stemming from the intersection of these in the Manukau Harbour claim, led by the late Dame Nganeko Minhinnick, which was central to kaitiakitanga becoming a key concept in law and policy. We will investigate kaitiakitanga as an ethic and flaxroots politic, emphasising the work of community activists at multiple levels, from the shores and waters of their harbours to the steps of Parliament.

Mai Hawaikinui ki Whangaparāoa, huri ki Tāmaki, ki Whangārei, ka hoki anō ki Tāmaki. Whiti atu ki te Mānukanuka o Hoturoa. Ka haere ki Mōkau, ka taka te punga. Ka hoki ake ki Kāwhia kai, Kāwhia tangata, Kāwhia moana.

Ka tū ko Hani rāua ko Puna.

This tauparapara created by the late Hukiterangi Muru for our research traces the harbour routes travelled by the Tainui waka, which is said to have been guided into the Kāwhia Harbour by Paneiraira, a taniwha and kaitiaki. The English translation is ‘From Hawaiki to Whangaparāoa, to Tāmaki, to Whangārei and returning to Tamaki. Crossing over to the Manukau Harbour. Continuing on to Mokau. Turning to Kāwhia, Kāwhia the waters, Kāwhia the sustenance, Kāwhia the people. The resting place of Hani and Puna, the taurapa and tauihu of the Tainui waka.’

The James Henare Research Centre was awarded funding by the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi in 2020 for a project focused on kaitiakitanga over harbour environments, based at four case sites: Kāwhia, Aotea, Manukau and Whāngārei. ¹ The research investigates kaitiakitanga as both an ethic and flaxroots politic, emphasising the work of community activists at multiple levels, from the shores and waters of their harbours to the steps of Parliament.

Research on hauora kaumātua, health and wellbeing constitutes a small, but growing body of literature. This review essay examines the current state of knowledge and the progress made over recent years in achieving kaumātua health and wellbeing. Health and wellbeing are not defined by the absence of disease, but by the interplay between culture, environment and whānau. While research to date has contributed enormously to the development of frameworks and approaches that have advanced Māori aspirations, we do not yet have a full understanding of kaumātua health and wellbeing from the perspective of kaumātua themselves. This review considers the methodological and theoretical approaches that have been developed to understand the social and environmental contexts of older Māori and argues for approaches that centre the kaumātua voice in addressing the persistent inequities in Māori health outcomes.

This feasibility study examined innovations in kaupapa Māori (a Māori approach) research methods to explore kaumātua (older Māori men and women) understandings of ageing well. We designed a research pathway that brought together kaupapa Māori methods in the form of noho wānanga (a method of knowledge sharing) with kaumātua and researchers in Tutukaka in 2018. Kaumātua participants were invited as guests in a comfortable and congenial setting to share their experiences of growing older. Our engagement with kaumātua, and our data-gathering and analysis methods provided an effective method for understanding kaumātua well-being. We found that focusing directly on health did not resonate with participants. There was diffidence when kaumātua talked about their own personal health, when compared with their enthusiasm for other parts of their lives. They understood well-being as a holistic process connecting hinengaro (mental health), wairua (the spirit and spiritual health), tinana (physical health) and te taiao (natural environments).

In a 2009 speech, prominent Māori lawyer Moana Jackson said that the novel Once Were Warriors (Duff, 1990) could have been more appropriately named Once Were Gardeners (New Zealand Drug Foundation, 2009). By doing so he argued against the notion that Māori possess a “warrior gene” predisposing them to violence. Instead, Jackson maintained, Māori were more likely to have a predisposition for gardening. Gardening, or mahi māra, has been practised by Māori for centuries in Aotearoa New Zealand. Although motivations may have changed, mahi māra remains an important expression of what it means to be Māori. This affirmation is particularly relevant when it comes to the recent Māori occupation of Ihumātao, one of the oldest Māori settlements in Aotearoa. This article explores the idea that gardens and gardening demonstrate a form of Māori protest and resistance. It also examines the importance of māra at Ihumātao and its occupation to Kelly Marie Francis, known as “The Whenua Warrior”, a member of the group occupying Ihumātao, Save Our Unique Landscape (SOUL). Understanding the occupation acknowledges the importance of māra in te ao Māori.

Home ownership and living arrangements make up an important part of planning for retirement. Traditionally a house was part of the asset portfolio for retirees with the aim to be mortgage free, and the ability to downsize if desired, especially from stand-alone homes on full sections (although rates of home ownership have varied by ethnicity). The housing options available to seniors are changing due to increases in house prices and fewer smaller houses. There is a small but increasing movement towards alternative living arrangements, such as co-housing, some seniors are ‘flatting’, and there is continued use of ‘granny flats’ and multigenerational living. How these changes impact pre-retirement savings and retirement income is not well understood. The objective of this report is to understand the expenses and income of retired people living in diverse housing situations.