On  Wednesday, 3rd July the Literacy in Action class visited the Te Heke Whakangā exhibition at the public library for a guided exhibition research tour.

The Te Heke Whakangā exhibition tells the Ngāti Rārua story through the lens of the iwi and has been developed through its partnership between Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Rārua, its subsidiary Tokomaru Research Centre and Ngāti Rārua o Te Wairau Society.

We were honoured to listen to Arthur Phillips and Leigh Luke  present to us their knowledge on the Ngāti Rārua’s rich iwi history and learn about their journey from the Kawhia region in the 1800s to their settlement in Te Tauihu and along the West Coast. 

The aim of the visit was to grow our collective knowledge of our Te Tauihu cultural narrative. After we returned to school the students wrote about the experience and recounted the knowledge which they had been gifted. The Literacy in Action class was amazed at the breadth and wealth of knowledge that was showcased in the exhibition and listened attentively to the engaging stories of some of  their ancestor’s  lives. 

Dr Lorrina and Arthur stated about the exhibition in the Marlborough App: “Ngāti Rārua has always been about education for all, and I see this as an opportunity to explain and better understand who we are as an iwi while honouring our tūpuna. The key message behind the exhibition is the resilience of the iwi throughout the years, despite becoming virtually landless by the end of the 1800s due to historical Crown actions.”

One of the students wrote afterwards: 'One thing that stuck out was Ngāti Rārua and their relocation. They relocated from the Kawhia region in 1800s to their settlement in Te Tauihu and along the west coast.'  Another wrote : 'There was flooding many times in Blenheim which made people very sick. It caused many deaths due to the dirty water and the lack of hospital facilities available for Māori. This disease really affected Ngāti Rārua and their journey.' Another wrote : 'I learnt that Ngāti Rārua achieved a major turning point in their fight for justice and acknowledgement in 2013 when they signed their Deed of Settlement with the Crown.'