Waitā (Taygeta)
Ngākau Whakaute
Tērā te marae nui a Kiwa te kānapanapa nei i raro i a koe Waitā. Hīia mai rā ki runga te tini a Ikatere, rukuhia ki tai, kohia ki tātahi hei kai mā te tini o uta. Ka hiki mata te tapuwae a Tangaroa! Koia au nui, koia au roa, koia moana tuarangaranga koia moana i āio.
Waitā is associated with the ocean, and food sources within it. (source: Te Wānanga o Aotearoa)
Waitā literally means ‘salt water’. In the Matariki cluster of whetu stars Waitā is situated below the fresh water whetu Waitī because fresh water always flows down to salt water.
The ocean and all life within it are precious taoka and Waitā reminds us of the importance of respecting them. Like the ocean, Dunedin Public Libraries also contains an abundance of precious taoka. An important way that staff here show ngākau whakaute respect for our taoka is through kaitiakitaka guardianship.
Our Heritage Collections preservation statement has this to say about kaitiakitaka:
Dunedin Public Libraries is a guardian of the documentary heritage, of taonga and treasures, which have been collected through purchase or donation. The library acknowledges that taonga (treasures) have mauri, a living spirit that connects a physical object to the iwi, hapū and whānau (kinship groups) involved in its creation. Mauri remains an active part of an item and links tipuna (ancestors) to descent groups.
This concept of guardianship is held parallel to, and in addition to, conventional legislation and intellectual property systems. Guardians take on the responsibility to protect and preserve the physical objects as well as their integrity and significance for future, present and past generations.
Preservation Statement - Heritage Collections
In this video, Laura interviews Julian from Heritage Collections where many precious treasures are kept safe for future generations.
Learn more about the Heritage Collections.
Read about how the work of the Bindery & Preservation Services team embodies our kaupapa of ngākau whakaute and kaitiakitaka.
Kia ora from Bindery & Preservation Services.
A large part of our work is with papers and books in our heritage collections.
We help to store or display them in ways that will protect them from damage and allow them to be used safely.
Having heritage collections is a pact with the people who have gone before – to preserve what they made.
It is a way of showing respect for the knowledge they imparted, and the facts and feelings that they documented. A way of finding out about beliefs that informed their behaviours. Of sharing beauty that they imagined and created and finding out about how they lived their lives.
Exhibitions highlighting the collections help share them with a wider group of people. Making supports for these exhibitions is one of the most interesting aspects of our work. The breadth of the items in the exhibitions is quite staggering - we might find ourselves working with anything from 20th century bus tickets to a Manuscript fragment from the 9th century.
Sometimes we work with items that are rare or of great historical significance but the objects that we remember most tend to be to be personal or poignant.
We have worked with books from the libraries of the great and the famous, and with New Zealand School Journals from 1929 that have the owner’s names signed on them with equal pride.
We have worked with a letter from a soldier serving overseas – written on the inside of a match box for want of paper; and with a newspaper especially printed to send to colleagues on active duty.
A special highlight for us was an exhibition focusing on bindings, including books bound by Eleanor Joachim from Dunedin
Working with these collections connects us with our past and is our way of acknowledging the people involved in making it.
For the bindery staff it is also a way of touching hands with the past in a very personal way. The heritage collections are a continual resource, reminder, and cause of wonder about how others have carried out our own craft over the centuries.
