Orakei A Ngati Whatua Community

By I. H. Kawharu

While this book is published primarily for an academic audience, it is nevertheless a valuable and insightful record for the ordinary reader too.

This book provides a snapshot of the Ngati Whatua O Orakei community as studied over a few months in 1964.

This a description of a community at a time which is roughly a decade after the Okahu Bay eviction and a decade before the occupation of Bastion Point.

Hugh Kawharu brought three different perspectives to this study.  Those of the socioal anthropologist, the educationalist and a Ngati Whatua.

Many Ngati Whatua will find the section on Descent and Kinship in Orakei of interest.  Hugh recounts stories that illustrate the close relationship between Orakei and the Reweti Marae community.

You'll have to get your own copy (or borrow it from the library) to find out all the details.  I won't spoil the story.

Hindsight does show however how important this relationship was to the well being of a community recoiling from a traumatic eviction from its papakainga a decade earlier.

For the student of whakapapa, the sections discussing the descent of Tuperiri from the great canoes and the relationship between Potatau Te Wherowhero and Tuperiri would be of interest.

For the student of community and education development, there are many gems to be found in Hugh Kawharu's descriptions.  Scanning the table of contents below would point you in their direction.

While the drive for this book may have been academica, it's ongoing value may be---not only as an insight in a Ngati Whatua O Orakei community but also---as an insight into a person who went on to lead this community over the following forty years or so.

Anyone related to this community and to this author should make it their business to not miss out on the richness, in---and between---the lines of this valuable book.

This book was published in 1975 by the New Zealand Council For Educational Research Wellington 1975 and printed by Whitcoulls Limited, Christchurch.

This review copy was loaned from the Auckland Public Library. The library reference is:  NZ Stack 307.722 K22.