1

00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:52,200

The river...

 

2

00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:56,560

...is the biggest player in who I am.

 

3

00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:03,360

I feel that it is my job...

 

4

00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:07,400

...to ensure that what I've been given,

I hand on to others.

 

5

00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:21,440

<i>greetings to you all</i>

 

6

00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:24,000

<i>welcome to our visitors</i>

 

7

00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:26,240

<i>from the land of dreamtime</i>

 

8

00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:34,960

<i>welcome to our sacred river</i>

 

9

00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:39,360

<i>stand up in this marae</i>

 

10

00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:47,400

<i>the meeting place of our ancestors</i>

 

11

00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:54,240

<i>let us acknowledge all our loved ones</i>

 

12

00:02:54,360 --> 00:03:03,480

<i>and our ancestors</i>

<i>who have passed away into the night</i>

 

13

00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:07,640

<i>let us acknowledge your loved ones</i>

 

14

00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:14,760

<i>and your ancestors</i>

<i>who have passed away into the night...</i>

 

15

00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:24,320

<i>welcome to all our visitors</i>

<i>to the meeting place of our ancestors</i>

 

16

00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:29,720

Do you need a cup, Jimmy?

 

17

00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:32,360

No, you don't need a cup.

 

18

00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:34,000

Do you need a cup?

- Yes.

 

19

00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:37,440

It's full of dust,

you have to give it a rinse.

 

20

00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:40,560

You need a cup.

- Thank you.

 

21

00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:45,120

You need a cup.

- Thanks, Ned. Beautiful, I love it.

 

22

00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:58,080

I think that's a hint to sit down.

 

23

00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:01,000

Get off, Jimmy.

 

24

00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:07,360

Anyway, I'm going to do

what we call a <i>ruruku.</i>

 

25

00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:13,920

The <i>ruruku</i> demands that notification

from our ancestors...

 

26

00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:18,800

...and from our <i>atua,</i>

or guardians of specific realms...

 

27

00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:23,720

...that we call upon to come

and enhance what we already have...

 

28

00:04:23,840 --> 00:04:27,800

...or to help us through any troubled times

that we may meet. Clear?

 

29

00:04:29,840 --> 00:04:31,480

Get off the table.

 

30

00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:34,400

Come on.

This is for eating, not sitting.

 

31

00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:38,000

Sit down.

 

32

00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:41,040

Okay. Greetings to us all.

 

33

00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:47,000

Let us draw on the supreme sacredness...

 

34

00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:54,480

...to clear, to free the heart, the body

and the spirit of mankind.

 

35

00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:57,520

Rongo, god of peace...

 

36

00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:02,280

...suspended above us...

 

37

00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:05,600

...bring us together.

 

38

00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:55,280

4:30 in the morning.

 

39

00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:02,280

And we listen to the wake-up

of the forest.

 

40

00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:55,800

Being Māori, from my perspective...

 

41

00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:02,720

...why we need to look after Papatūānuku,

or Earth Mother:

 

42

00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:06,720

She's living.

 

43

00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:12,800

She's breathing.

 

44

00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:22,400

She is listening to us right now.

 

45

00:07:39,120 --> 00:07:43,440

Everything in this world in our eyes

has a force of life within.

 

46

00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:49,080

We call it <i>mauri.</i>

 

47

00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:57,680

An unseen force...

 

48

00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:08,480

...but yet it is a force that you can feel.

 

49

00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:22,560

Our trip is about the river...

 

50

00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:24,720

...being the focus.

 

51

00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:28,360

About us as people coming together...

 

52

00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:32,680

...bringing people together

from across the other side of the world.

 

53

00:08:33,120 --> 00:08:35,480

It's about saving rivers,

saving the planet.

 

54

00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:45,600

Never seen anything like this.

 

55

00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:39,760

When we leave one place,

we take something from the bush...

 

56

00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:44,200

...to our next landing. We leave it there

and grab another one from that place.

 

57

00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:48,320

So it gives us safe passage

from place to place.

 

58

00:09:58,600 --> 00:10:02,000

It's really the river

that's doing the calling.

 

59

00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:08,320

The river has always been in charge

because it dictates when this thing happens.

 

60

00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:22,600

It all just fell into place.

 

61

00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:25,800

Ned told us, when we came here

to make a short film:

 

62

00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:28,000

I met this amazing artist

from Australia...

 

63

00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:32,920

...and she wants to bring over

an elder from Australia.

 

64

00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:37,960

We'd never met each other until now.

 

65

00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:43,520

I had heard about Whanganui and I'd been

living with a mob back in Australia...

 

66

00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:45,920

...who are <i>Barkandji</i>, river people.

 

67

00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:51,400

They taught me so much about how we need

to protect our rivers and how sick they were.

 

68

00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:53,360

When I got that email from you...

 

69

00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:58,040

...and my name had been passed on

as someone that's fighting for our river...

 

70

00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:00,760

...I thought, this is fantastic,

I can't say no.

 

71

00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:06,800

How amazing to get the chance to speak

with Iwi (Māori tribes) here on such a special river.

 

72

00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:10,880

And I said to Justine, I'm so honored

and I would absolutely love to...

 

73

00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:13,880

...but I kind of acknowledge

that I'm not an elder.

 

74

00:11:14,000 --> 00:11:16,520

And while I can speak

for what I know...

 

75

00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:19,920

...I don't speak for country and rivers

the way our elders do.

 

76

00:11:20,040 --> 00:11:23,680

So I rang Dad and said,

Dad, you've got to come with me.

 

77

00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:28,760

I had already known

that you had a father who was an elder.

 

78

00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:31,560

Do they realise I'm standing right here?

 

79

00:11:31,680 --> 00:11:34,720

I feel like I'm in another place.

 

80

00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:40,280

What I was saying was,

there's something much bigger than all of us.

 

81

00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:45,040

And we're just players

in this bigger play that's happening...

 

82

00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:47,280

...which is our world.

 

83

00:11:47,400 --> 00:11:50,640

And the rivers are probably the genre.

 

84

00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:55,600

The rivers are the genre

and we're all the actors...

 

85

00:11:55,720 --> 00:11:57,520

...and there's a story.

 

86

00:12:11,040 --> 00:12:12,240

Just the basics:

 

87

00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:17,080

Bottom hand down at the <i>kakau,</i>

the handle of the paddle.

 

88

00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:21,520

And the top hand is up, closed over it.

Just follow the person in front.

 

89

00:12:21,640 --> 00:12:23,640

When we say "hands on paddles"...

 

90

00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:27,800

...we need to just put some good bit

of energy behind our paddle...

 

91

00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:31,400

...so we can get our canoe

up and moving. Okay?

 

92

00:12:31,520 --> 00:12:37,480

But as far as tipping over upside down,

hasn't happened yet.

 

93

00:12:38,680 --> 00:12:43,600

It hasn't happened yet.

There's always a first time, but not today.

 

94

00:12:43,720 --> 00:12:50,080

We're going to do our <i>ruruku</i>

to start our journey from today.

 

95

00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:56,920

Let us enter without hindrance

into the space of our beginnings...

 

96

00:12:57,040 --> 00:13:04,560

...into the space of our people, into the space

of learning, into the space of conversations...

 

97

00:13:04,680 --> 00:13:11,160

...to the long and expansive space

of Ranginui, our Sky Father.

 

98

00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:14,840

United. We affirm.

 

99

00:13:14,960 --> 00:13:16,400

Let's go, eh?

 

100

00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:19,120

Cool.

 

101

00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:21,080

Load up.

 

102

00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:43,840

Bye, grandpa. Safe journey.

 

103

00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:46,680

Bye, grandpa.

 

104

00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:50,600

Waving out there.

 

105

00:13:51,560 --> 00:13:53,080

See you, babe.

 

106

00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:56,280

That feels even better.

 

107

00:13:57,360 --> 00:13:59,360

To be on the water.

 

108

00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:05,080

I can feel it all leaving me.

Can you?

 

109

00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:08,200

Yeah. Every time.

- I can feel all the...

 

110

00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:13,240

...all the toxins and everything.

 

111

00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:19,280

All the unhealthiness,

I can feel it all leaving me.

 

112

00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:33,000

Are you alright there, bud?

 

113

00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:34,240

Is he there?

- Yeah.

 

114

00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:38,200

So, Brendan and Melissa,

you can paddle when you're ready.

 

115

00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:45,320

Jimmy.

 

116

00:15:11,600 --> 00:15:15,680

So, we've just come out of

the Retaruke River...

 

117

00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:19,640

...and we're now flowing into

the Whanganui River.

 

118

00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:37,440

I feel like I'm home.

 

119

00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:10,880

From the mountains to the sea...

 

120

00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:13,920

...I am the river and the river is me.

 

121

00:16:15,040 --> 00:16:18,800

We're indivisible,

we belong to each other.

 

122

00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:41,840

The connection we have with the mountains

is exactly the same as we have with the river.

 

123

00:17:53,040 --> 00:17:59,920

That spiritual connection that you have with

what we call our ancestors, our <i>tūpuna...</i>

 

124

00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:03,760

...which are the mountains and the waters...

 

125

00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:08,480

...and the land that surrounds us.

 

126

00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:07,400

Depending on what part of the country

of Aotearoa you come from...

 

127

00:20:07,520 --> 00:20:10,160

...we all have a mountain

that we refer to...

 

128

00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:13,720

...we all have a river

that we refer to.

 

129

00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:18,880

So, when we are in speechmaking

or identifying ourselves...

 

130

00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:21,280

...it usually goes something like this:

 

131

00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:24,800

Ruapehu is my mountain,

Whanganui is my river...

 

132

00:20:24,920 --> 00:20:30,080

...Te Atihaunui-A-Paparangi is my tribe,

Parikino is my ancestral village...

 

133

00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:34,200

...Ngāti Tuera and Ngāti Hinearo

are my subtribes.

 

134

00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:36,800

My name is Reneti Tapa.

 

135

00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:39,720

So, name my mountain,

name the river...

 

136

00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:44,120

...name the tribal area,

and my subtribe as well.

 

137

00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:50,640

We're going through a bit of a rapid here, so

we'd better break off and meet at the bottom.

 

138

00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:52,160

See you, Jim.

 

139

00:20:52,280 --> 00:20:54,320

Jamie.

 

140

00:20:55,600 --> 00:20:59,040

Jimmy, you jumped ship.

 

141

00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:04,200

Paddle, paddle, paddle...

 

142

00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:13,320

Hook up.

 

143

00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:22,520

Jimmy, come.

- No, stay, Jimmy.

 

144

00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:25,840

How do you feel when you're

on your river, on your <i>awa?</i>

 

145

00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:27,720

I feel like me.

 

146

00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:31,880

The jobs that we all lead,

a lot of pressure.

 

147

00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:35,440

For us to be able to come back here

and be on the <i>awa...</i>

 

148

00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:40,000

...just brings us back,

gives us what we call our <i>mauri</i> back.

 

149

00:22:40,120 --> 00:22:44,400

That life force that we have

that sometimes gets...

 

150

00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:48,680

...what's the word, unbalanced.

 

151

00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:51,160

This is where we come to balance up.

 

152

00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:54,200

So you'll notice

when we come on the river...

 

153

00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:57,520

...each day we're on the river,

we're getting stronger.

 

154

00:22:57,640 --> 00:23:01,520

And by the end of it, physically,

we're just pumping it out.

 

155

00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:04,840

Wired. Charged.

- Yeah, rewired.

 

156

00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:08,160

Yeah, that's the one.

 

157

00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:09,280

How are you?

 

158

00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:12,360

Those canoes have outboards.

 

159

00:23:12,480 --> 00:23:15,720

Oh yeah.

Yeah, we're modern Māori.

 

160

00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:22,880

Suzuki and Mitsubishi.

Good brands.

 

161

00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:39,320

We've got to get a bit of steam up, people.

- Alright, let's give it a whir.

 

162

00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:51,160

We're moving now.

 

163

00:23:56,960 --> 00:23:58,960

Go right side, Stu.

 

164

00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:07,760

There goes the undies.

 

165

00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:11,440

I just got drenched.

 

166

00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:13,760

And rest.

 

167

00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:18,560

How do you put this on?

 

168

00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:24,800

All the way up.

 

169

00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:30,120

No, that's the head.

- Is that the head?

 

170

00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:35,320

Brendan, who's the blackfella

in my <i>waka</i> (canoe)?

 

171

00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:40,400

What did he say?

- Who's the blackfella in his <i>waka</i>?

 

172

00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:41,920

<i>Waka</i>, <i>waka</i>.

 

173

00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:53,000

Inside we are black people

even if now, due to colonisation...

 

174

00:24:53,120 --> 00:24:55,520

...and all this,

we may not be dark-skinned anymore.

 

175

00:24:55,640 --> 00:25:00,480

That doesn't come into our understanding

of what it means to be a black person.

 

176

00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:11,320

Very peaceful.

- Yes.

 

177

00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:13,600

Peaceful...

 

178

00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:18,880

What's the word for peace in your language?

- Peaceful?

 

179

00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:25,840

We don't have a word for peace

because peace is... that's a European...

 

180

00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:28,320

It's like a foreign concept.

- "Peace".

 

181

00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:32,680

Our people were...

for a hundred thousand years, like...

 

182

00:25:32,800 --> 00:25:35,320

In harmony.

- Always peace.

 

183

00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:38,040

There's always peace...

 

184

00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:05,120

You just drenched me.

- You just had a shower.

 

185

00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:14,120

The water's coming in now.

 

186

00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:22,560

I like the terminology "weatherwise fine".

- Fine.

 

187

00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:26,600

It's always fine.

- Yeah, this is fine.

 

188

00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:35,240

There she is with water.

 

189

00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:44,280

Celebrated too soon.

 

190

00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:49,760

This is where non-verbal language

comes into play, big time.

 

191

00:26:56,960 --> 00:26:59,320

Which way are you going?

 

192

00:26:59,440 --> 00:27:03,480

Wherever our motor is gonna take us.

- Yeah, where our motor goes.

 

193

00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:05,800

Just saying...

 

194

00:27:20,360 --> 00:27:22,560

The city jail closed down.

 

195

00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:26,040

I'm retiring from that place.

I've had enough.

 

196

00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:28,040

Been there 28 years.

 

197

00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:31,560

That's a lot.

 

198

00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:34,440

This is a holiday for me.

 

199

00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:36,800

Bigfoot, found the Bigfoot.

 

200

00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:41,760

Look at the size of it.

 

201

00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:53,480

There's Bigfoot, we're just taking...

 

202

00:27:53,600 --> 00:27:56,080

Oh my gosh, it's large.

 

203

00:27:57,120 --> 00:27:59,320

But it doesn't bite.

 

204

00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:15,240

We're going to hit this wall here, look.

 

205

00:28:15,360 --> 00:28:19,640

Don't lean, don't lean.

Just stay seated, don't lean.

 

206

00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:25,760

One thing I forgot to mention:

if we're going to hit, don't lean, stay seated.

 

207

00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:31,520

Rather than lift to one side,

and she'll flip over like that.

 

208

00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:19,400

I've never seen that before.

 

209

00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:24,640

They've got little bits of clay on it.

That's why they're still there.

 

210

00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:29,520

It's the water splashing out like that.

Hits the top and splashes away.

 

211

00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:32,480

The houses of the little people.

 

212

00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:39,960

What have you noticed has changed,

though?

 

213

00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:44,760

Obviously the health of the water is better.

- Oh, definitely.

 

214

00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:49,040

What are you guys doing now that's helping?

- For example, the city area.

 

215

00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:51,440

In our time growing up,

there was just raw sewage.

 

216

00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:56,400

You flushed the toilet, that's where it went.

All raw sewage went into the river.

 

217

00:29:56,520 --> 00:29:59,360

All commercial waste went into the river.

 

218

00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:03,240

The freezing works, when they did

their kills, they went into the river.

 

219

00:30:03,360 --> 00:30:07,200

Factories that dyed their clothing,

all that went into the river.

 

220

00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:10,600

So the health of the river was not good.

 

221

00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:19,760

Yet within a hundred years

the Crown's actions and inactions...

 

222

00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:23,880

...disenfranchised Iwi (Māori tribes)

from their relationship with the river.

 

223

00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:27,360

The Crown, for example,

allowed steamers to ply the river...

 

224

00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:30,360

...resulting in the destruction

of fishing dams.

 

225

00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:32,920

River gravel was extracted and sold.

 

226

00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:39,520

The Crown did not properly engage or

involve Iwi in the management of the river.

 

227

00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:43,600

But the Iwi stood their ground

and fought and fought and fought...

 

228

00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:49,720

...so that their calls for justice

were finally answered.

 

229

00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:58,920

The legislation recognises Te Awa Tupua

as an indivisible and living whole...

 

230

00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:03,000

...comprising the Whanganui River

from the mountains to the sea...

 

231

00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:09,240

...incorporating its tributaries, and all

its physical and metaphysical elements.

 

232

00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:20,960

It recognises Te Awa Tupua

as a legal person...

 

233

00:31:21,080 --> 00:31:25,160

...with all the corresponding rights,

duties and responsibilities.

 

234

00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:27,800

This really is something very special...

 

235

00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:33,960

...and it's already gaining attention

both nationally and internationally.

 

236

00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:36,240

This is an agreement between all of us...

 

237

00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:41,960

...so don't start doing things on your own,

otherwise we'll jump up and down and react.

 

238

00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:45,520

So nothing can happen.

Whitefellas can't do nothing.

 

239

00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:48,480

No companies can't do nothing.

 

240

00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:51,400

They've got to come back to you.

- Come back to us.

 

241

00:31:51,520 --> 00:31:56,400

That's pretty powerful.

You're coming from strength.

 

242

00:31:56,520 --> 00:32:02,040

Us as the guardians who are looking after it,

like the councils, the district councils...

 

243

00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:07,240

...all of us who are a part of that, nothing

happens until we're all there and all happy.

 

244

00:32:07,360 --> 00:32:11,200

And then we have our two river speakers,

our two members...

 

245

00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:14,600

...who sit at the right hand

with the government on it.

 

246

00:32:14,720 --> 00:32:19,840

They are probably the backstop

if anything goes through.

 

247

00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:25,160

Now, the law is slowly

starting to find ways...

 

248

00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:28,040

...clumsy, not perfect by any means...

 

249

00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:33,000

...but slowly trying to find ways

to understand that core concept.

 

250

00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:36,520

And for those Pākehā (settlers) who

might find it difficult to understand...

 

251

00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:42,120

...how we could give legal status

to an ecology, to an environment...

 

252

00:32:42,240 --> 00:32:46,360

...I'd ask them to just consider

why it is we have in our law...

 

253

00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:50,080

...the right for corporations

to have legal status as a person.

 

254

00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:54,440

We actually do have, in Pākehā law

something quite similar.

 

255

00:32:54,560 --> 00:32:59,000

A corporation isn't a thing.

It doesn't have a separate identity...

 

256

00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:01,960

...but it does have legal rights

like a legal person.

 

257

00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:05,560

A corporation has rights under

the Bill of Rights Act, for goodness sake.

 

258

00:33:05,680 --> 00:33:11,520

It's just a construction in our own minds

about how the law responds to an entity.

 

259

00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:17,920

It is so much more important,

so much more important...

 

260

00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:23,080

...that we give status

for its own sake...

 

261

00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:27,000

...to the very thing that gives us life.

 

262

00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:30,640

And in Whanganui, that is our river.

 

263

00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:35,120

A small step forward,

but a step nonetheless.

 

264

00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:42,000

<i>the Whanganui River</i>

<i>that rapidly descends</i>

 

265

00:33:42,120 --> 00:33:49,080

<i>flowing and winding its way</i>

<i>to the ocean deep</i>

 

266

00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:55,760

<i>once the bathing waters of our elders</i>

<i>who have now departed</i>

 

267

00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:57,800

How long was the negotiation period?

 

268

00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:02,680

The negotiations started back in

my grandfather's time, in the 1930s.

 

269

00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:09,800

When we talked about the river,

we gave it everything.

 

270

00:34:12,120 --> 00:34:15,080

We wrote songs about it,

we did <i>haka.</i>

 

271

00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:20,440

When we did come up to

the tribunals and the Crown...

 

272

00:34:20,560 --> 00:34:23,400

...we talked with tears, I suppose.

 

273

00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:30,960

<i>you originate at the headwaters</i>

<i>of Tongariro</i>

 

274

00:34:31,080 --> 00:34:37,640

<i>a snowcapped mountain</i>

<i>from whence you came</i>

 

275

00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:40,920

But that's all our river's got,

it's just...

 

276

00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:46,480

...irrigation, pumps, pipes,

channels, dams, everywhere.

 

277

00:34:49,600 --> 00:34:51,720

You haven't got it here.

 

278

00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:25,600

The Māori world is about guardianship.

 

279

00:35:25,720 --> 00:35:28,880

And the non-Māori world is about ownership.

 

280

00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:35,280

Some people won't understand.

I mean, if that's yours, then I own that.

 

281

00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:38,880

But we see it as, I don't own that.

 

282

00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:47,120

With ownership you can buy and sell

tomorrow.

 

283

00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:54,800

But with guardianship you're there

for as long as you have to be.

 

284

00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:59,400

I'm just the caretaker for a period of time

while I'm here.

 

285

00:37:02,520 --> 00:37:05,520

It was so quiet and peaceful

until somebody came along.

 

286

00:37:05,640 --> 00:37:08,680

You did invite me.

 

287

00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:36,680

You know, it's catching on around the world.

 

288

00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:41,840

Not that we did that for that reason,

but others are wanting to do the same...

 

289

00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:46,480

...which means if they can do it, that's another

river done, and another one around the world.

 

290

00:37:46,600 --> 00:37:52,200

And all of a sudden our rivers are going to be

looked at completely differently.

 

291

00:37:52,320 --> 00:37:56,760

And when we don't have access to water...

 

292

00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:02,520

...that's basically killing us.

 

293

00:38:03,600 --> 00:38:08,760

It's killing our land,

killing our ancestral beings...

 

294

00:38:12,680 --> 00:38:17,040

...killing our river, which is the veins...

 

295

00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:22,880

...and the creeks are the arteries,

and the lakes, the lagoons, are all the organs.

 

296

00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:28,600

They're all the body organs of our ancestral

spiritual being in the landscape.

 

297

00:38:44,040 --> 00:38:48,640

Way up the top

is where you've got the cotton industry.

 

298

00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:55,800

They just pump all that water out

into their private land...

 

299

00:38:55,920 --> 00:38:58,360

...where they've just dug huge dams.

 

300

00:39:00,320 --> 00:39:02,440

There's no river flowing down...

 

301

00:39:02,560 --> 00:39:08,280

...so all those First Nations communities

and farmers, they have no water at all.

 

302

00:39:11,120 --> 00:39:15,800

We'll put a claim in. I don't know how,

what court. I'll get legal advice.

 

303

00:39:15,920 --> 00:39:22,040

Where is there a legal avenue that we can

put a claim in and say we want recognition?

 

304

00:39:22,160 --> 00:39:26,600

It's the whole river. If your whole river,

your mobs come together...

 

305

00:39:26,720 --> 00:39:30,760

...and put their claim in as one:

massive power.

 

306

00:39:31,800 --> 00:39:35,840

Worldwide as well.

2,000 kilometers is your river is it?

 

307

00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:37,600

How many mobs?

 

308

00:39:37,720 --> 00:39:44,200

There'd be up to twenty tribes. Easy.

 

309

00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:48,720

To have the opportunity to be here

and to see it like this is like:

 

310

00:39:48,840 --> 00:39:51,240

Yeah, we can do this for our river.

 

311

00:39:57,440 --> 00:39:59,280

I'll get more water.

 

312

00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:09,320

So, what I have here

is a <i>kawakawa</i> leaf.

 

313

00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:16,720

<i>Kawakawa</i> is our <i>rongoā,</i> or medicine,

back in the day for Māori.

 

314

00:40:16,840 --> 00:40:20,320

We like to mash it up

and then just use it as oil.

 

315

00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:24,240

And we put it on our wounds as well

to help us.

 

316

00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:30,280

Today we can use <i>kawakawa</i>

as tea as well.

 

317

00:40:31,040 --> 00:40:33,800

The longer you cook it for,

the stronger it is.

 

318

00:40:33,920 --> 00:40:36,720

Uncle Ned was saying

it gets really peppery...

 

319

00:40:36,840 --> 00:40:40,800

...so if you like it to be more peppery

and spicy, let it boil for longer.

 

320

00:40:40,920 --> 00:40:43,720

Sounds like our old man weed.

- Yeah.

 

321

00:40:43,840 --> 00:40:46,080

A lot bigger.

- Yeah, it's different.

 

322

00:40:56,560 --> 00:40:58,520

Stop it, Petr.

 

323

00:41:02,840 --> 00:41:05,840

For me as a river man...

 

324

00:41:05,960 --> 00:41:07,920

I'm a river person.

 

325

00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:12,440

I can read this river.

 

326

00:41:14,640 --> 00:41:19,680

Not everything, but I can read

what I need to know.

 

327

00:41:22,080 --> 00:41:26,560

I could survive on a river like this here.

 

328

00:41:36,320 --> 00:41:39,240

I'm a trial-and-error artist.

- Oh, yeah?

 

329

00:41:39,360 --> 00:41:42,840

Yeah, because I've got confidence

and know...

 

330

00:41:43,880 --> 00:41:46,640

You know what I mean?

The end result.

 

331

00:41:47,280 --> 00:41:48,760

So, I just...

 

332

00:41:49,640 --> 00:41:51,080

I go rough.

 

333

00:41:52,640 --> 00:41:58,560

Did you learn your language from

a young age or when you became an adult?

 

334

00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:01,080

When I became an adult.

 

335

00:42:01,200 --> 00:42:04,920

We've been using, like,

Aboriginal English.

 

336

00:42:09,760 --> 00:42:12,680

Are kids learning your language again now?

 

337

00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:16,400

Yeah, I've been teaching them.

I'm the language teacher.

 

338

00:42:16,520 --> 00:42:19,760

I didn't know that.

- I'm reviving six languages.

 

339

00:42:19,880 --> 00:42:22,600

It's hard when there's

only one person doing it.

 

340

00:42:22,720 --> 00:42:27,280

As far as I know, I'm the only

Mutti Mutti speaker in the world.

 

341

00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:29,720

Semi-fluent Mutti Mutti speaker.

 

342

00:42:29,840 --> 00:42:33,680

Some groups, particularly

in the south of eastern Australia...

 

343

00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:36,360

...can only revive it from books.

 

344

00:42:37,400 --> 00:42:40,920

We're lucky. We've got audio.

We've got the speaker.

 

345

00:42:41,040 --> 00:42:42,840

Luise Hercus.

 

346

00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:47,800

Luckily, she found one of our last speakers

of Mutti Mutti.

 

347

00:42:47,920 --> 00:42:50,160

And then she came to...

 

348

00:42:50,280 --> 00:42:53,360

...record my mother and grandmothers

and aunties and that...

 

349

00:42:53,480 --> 00:42:56,320

...and they said no, because...

 

350

00:42:56,440 --> 00:43:00,560

...if it's known that they're still speaking

language down in the camp life...

 

351

00:43:00,680 --> 00:43:04,280

...then the kids...

We've already had kids taken.

 

352

00:43:04,400 --> 00:43:09,880

They'd put you in jail or take your kids away.

- Yeah, or stop your rations.

 

353

00:43:11,120 --> 00:43:12,520

Disgusting.

 

354

00:43:12,640 --> 00:43:14,960

Very cruel people.

Very, very cruel.

 

355

00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:19,400

I don't think we realise

how cruel the colonial...

 

356

00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:23,480

That's why, when we do meet friends...

 

357

00:43:23,600 --> 00:43:26,440

...we know. We can tell

who our friends are.

 

358

00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:29,440

Because since we were little...

 

359

00:43:29,560 --> 00:43:34,640

...we've seen it in the eyes of the oppressor

how much they don't like us.

 

360

00:43:35,720 --> 00:43:38,240

How much they hate us.

 

361

00:43:38,360 --> 00:43:45,040

So now we're able to quite easily see,

identify our friends, which is quite a...

 

362

00:43:46,120 --> 00:43:48,760

Alright, what'll I do here?

 

363

00:43:48,880 --> 00:43:50,400

That eagle is brown.

 

364

00:43:56,120 --> 00:44:00,000

When I taught language, do you think

I was just teaching language?

 

365

00:44:00,120 --> 00:44:02,400

No, I was teaching everything.

 

366

00:44:02,520 --> 00:44:05,200

About the land, the animals,

the culture...

 

367

00:44:05,320 --> 00:44:08,040

...the ancestral stories, everything.

 

368

00:44:08,160 --> 00:44:11,720

You were teaching non-Aboriginal kids

and Aboriginal kids?

 

369

00:44:11,840 --> 00:44:13,720

Yeah, of course.

 

370

00:44:16,440 --> 00:44:21,320

<i>grandfather cut bark</i>

<i>from the river red gum trees</i>

 

371

00:44:21,440 --> 00:44:25,920

<i>they used a stick to paddle the canoe</i>

<i>far across the water</i>

 

372

00:44:26,040 --> 00:44:30,200

<i>they float along the river</i>

<i>and the lakes</i>

 

373

00:44:30,320 --> 00:44:37,080

<i>great-grandmother and great-grandfather</i>

<i>in canoes...</i>

 

374

00:44:37,200 --> 00:44:43,800

The non-Aboriginal kids were so fascinated,

excited and they loved the culture.

 

375

00:44:43,920 --> 00:44:48,640

Some kids were saying,

I wish I was Aboriginal too.

 

376

00:45:11,000 --> 00:45:13,000

Who's the lovely lady?

 

377

00:45:15,680 --> 00:45:18,720

Come closer, you'll find out, dear.

 

378

00:45:19,400 --> 00:45:21,560

He's got a boomerang skim.

 

379

00:45:27,440 --> 00:45:29,320

This is like the Olympics.

 

380

00:45:31,960 --> 00:45:34,320

Your wood's really hard.

 

381

00:45:35,360 --> 00:45:38,280

Must have made strong weapons.

- Native wood.

 

382

00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:40,040

That's hardwood.

 

383

00:45:40,160 --> 00:45:43,320

All the way along the river,

we'll have all these trees...

 

384

00:45:43,440 --> 00:45:46,760

...and the roots are all sticking out

and they all go that shape.

 

385

00:45:46,880 --> 00:45:52,560

So there's your boomerangs and

there's your big long fighting boomerangs.

 

386

00:45:52,680 --> 00:45:57,960

And the wood is that dense

because it's the root. It's so dense.

 

387

00:45:58,080 --> 00:46:00,480

We just wait for the tree to fall over.

 

388

00:46:00,600 --> 00:46:05,160

When we come down, this young fella was

out looking for what we call a <i>huri rākau.</i>

 

389

00:46:05,280 --> 00:46:09,800

A <i>rākau</i> is a stick and a <i>huri</i> is a twist.

You get a natural twist in it.

 

390

00:46:09,920 --> 00:46:12,720

So he goes out looking for them

and he's found a couple.

 

391

00:46:12,840 --> 00:46:16,400

Probably be ready

in a couple of years time maybe.

 

392

00:46:16,520 --> 00:46:19,400

They're sitting in the bush.

He knows where they are now.

 

393

00:46:19,520 --> 00:46:23,160

The way I see it is,

they call out to you.

 

394

00:46:23,280 --> 00:46:26,000

They call out to you saying,

I'm over here.

 

395

00:46:26,120 --> 00:46:28,320

Exactly that.

 

396

00:46:35,120 --> 00:46:40,720

A lot of your tribal marks are your identity

of who you are from.

 

397

00:46:40,840 --> 00:46:44,520

And usually they have,

like down the left side is my father's...

 

398

00:46:44,640 --> 00:46:48,280

...and the right side is my mother's.

They're not symmetrical.

 

399

00:46:48,400 --> 00:46:51,320

You think, <i>tā moko</i>

is nice and symmetrical.

 

400

00:46:51,440 --> 00:46:54,800

They shouldn't be,

because they tell a different story.

 

401

00:46:55,360 --> 00:46:57,240

This fella's getting done soon.

 

402

00:46:58,200 --> 00:47:01,200

His <i>Mataora,</i> the face markings.

 

403

00:47:01,320 --> 00:47:04,960

They both go, he's got his,

he's getting his.

 

404

00:47:05,080 --> 00:47:07,400

And they're both looking at me...

 

405

00:47:10,880 --> 00:47:12,520

Yeah, we got a bird...

 

406

00:47:13,480 --> 00:47:18,960

...that's telling us someone's going to pass.

That's passing.

 

407

00:47:19,080 --> 00:47:21,600

Same as ours.

- You got one of them?

 

408

00:47:21,720 --> 00:47:23,680

The cultures are quite similar, eh?

 

409

00:47:23,800 --> 00:47:27,040

The similarities I've heard

over the last two days is...

 

410

00:47:27,160 --> 00:47:29,520

I'm like, fuckin' hell man.

 

411

00:47:30,800 --> 00:47:35,520

You know, I thought there'd be

lots of things different.

 

412

00:47:35,640 --> 00:47:37,480

Differences.

 

413

00:47:37,600 --> 00:47:39,560

But it's the opposite.

 

414

00:47:39,680 --> 00:47:44,920

There's lots of things the same, more

than there is different, if that makes sense.

 

415

00:48:51,040 --> 00:48:53,640

Give him something.

- Shut up, pal.

 

416

00:48:53,760 --> 00:48:56,960

How could you eat in front of him?

Look at him.

 

417

00:48:57,080 --> 00:48:59,080

Feed me.

 

418

00:48:59,680 --> 00:49:01,680

Yeah, bro.

Yeah, right.

 

419

00:49:14,120 --> 00:49:17,440

Even when I was a kid,

when I was little.

 

420

00:49:17,560 --> 00:49:22,520

I was born in 68, we're talking the early 70s,

they'd still come to get us.

 

421

00:49:22,640 --> 00:49:24,920

My mum was black, dad was white.

 

422

00:49:25,040 --> 00:49:30,080

My mum had five sisters. One of the sisters,

they just took the whole six kids.

 

423

00:49:30,200 --> 00:49:35,240

The youngest was a baby, one,

and the oldest was about twelve

 

424

00:49:36,680 --> 00:49:40,160

Yeah. But it happened here too?

- Yeah.

 

425

00:49:40,280 --> 00:49:43,960

A lot of them are the ones

that we have in our gangs now.

 

426

00:49:44,080 --> 00:49:47,920

They carry the trauma from previous years.

 

427

00:49:49,840 --> 00:49:54,880

When I was a bit younger, a few years ago,

I started getting into trouble.

 

428

00:49:56,800 --> 00:49:59,840

Like, I wanted to be cool like them.

 

429

00:49:59,960 --> 00:50:03,680

I used to see them as cool.

Big, scary dudes.

 

430

00:50:05,320 --> 00:50:09,960

So, I started getting into trouble,

into a lot of fights.

 

431

00:50:11,920 --> 00:50:14,400

And then one day I woke up.

 

432

00:50:14,520 --> 00:50:17,680

Ned pulled me aside and he said,

Mate, are you okay?

 

433

00:50:17,800 --> 00:50:21,800

I said, No, no, I'm not.

I'm in a bad way.

 

434

00:50:22,360 --> 00:50:26,480

He just quietly talked away...

 

435

00:50:26,600 --> 00:50:29,560

...and just helped me.

 

436

00:50:30,680 --> 00:50:35,760

From then on, wanting to be

like the big bad guys just went away.

 

437

00:50:35,880 --> 00:50:38,280

I wanted to be a guy that somebody...

 

438

00:50:38,400 --> 00:50:41,200

...can come to if they needed help.

 

439

00:50:45,000 --> 00:50:49,720

Your young fella there,

I've got a fella at home just like him.

 

440

00:50:49,840 --> 00:50:51,480

He's my right hand man.

 

441

00:50:51,600 --> 00:50:54,120

I've had him since birth.

 

442

00:50:56,800 --> 00:51:02,920

One of our old ways is the first-born child

from your eldest daughter or son.

 

443

00:51:03,040 --> 00:51:05,560

They give you their first child.

 

444

00:51:05,680 --> 00:51:10,560

She said: here's your Christmas present

for the next hundred years.

 

445

00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:13,400

Here you are.

 

446

00:51:14,640 --> 00:51:19,520

In other people's ways, I suppose

that would seem strange...

 

447

00:51:19,640 --> 00:51:22,880

...giving your child away,

your first-born child.

 

448

00:51:23,000 --> 00:51:26,640

But because we still live close together...

 

449

00:51:26,760 --> 00:51:31,400

...the birth mother and birth father

are maybe in the next house.

 

450

00:51:31,520 --> 00:51:37,080

But as far as handing on traditional values,

that's who we start with.

 

451

00:51:37,200 --> 00:51:38,760

Have a good day.

 

452

00:51:57,200 --> 00:51:59,320

The water tastes good, brother?

- Yeah.

 

453

00:51:59,440 --> 00:52:02,160

Up there?

- Yeah, very good.

 

454

00:52:09,280 --> 00:52:15,600

Everything that falls into the river brings

a journey of life, regardless of what it is.

 

455

00:52:16,720 --> 00:52:21,000

I love that idea that if you take something,

you give something back.

 

456

00:52:21,120 --> 00:52:25,040

What if you don't have anything

to put back in?

 

457

00:52:25,160 --> 00:52:28,160

It's not always a physical thing.

 

458

00:52:28,280 --> 00:52:32,680

It could be a <i>ruruku</i>

or acknowledgment to the place.

 

459

00:52:32,800 --> 00:52:35,280

People say, how do you do that?

 

460

00:52:35,400 --> 00:52:40,320

I say, you give it your essence,

your <i>mauri</i>.

 

461

00:52:40,440 --> 00:52:44,480

My <i>mauri</i>, my life essence,

I give to the river.

 

462

00:53:11,440 --> 00:53:16,320

A paddle, to me, is inscribed with values.

 

463

00:53:17,120 --> 00:53:18,880

Like, carved into it.

 

464

00:53:22,760 --> 00:53:24,960

You can't see them, of course.

 

465

00:53:28,560 --> 00:53:33,480

I believe that each time I paddle

in the river, I am bathing them...

 

466

00:53:33,600 --> 00:53:35,520

...in the water.

 

467

00:53:41,200 --> 00:53:46,040

And each time I hold them up,

I'm holding them up for the world to see.

 

468

00:54:24,600 --> 00:54:29,040

Look at Petr, he's all squished up.

- He's warm, Jimmy's warm.

 

469

00:54:29,480 --> 00:54:33,240

Hey Jimmy, we've got plenty of room.

- I'm gonna take a photo.

 

470

00:54:33,360 --> 00:54:35,280

Ah, Jimmy...

 

471

00:56:00,000 --> 00:56:02,720

Let me say this, so you remember:

 

472

00:56:02,840 --> 00:56:05,120

I can feel the river behind me.

 

473

00:56:06,800 --> 00:56:11,400

It's hard to explain the feeling,

but I can feel the river behind me.

 

474

00:56:15,360 --> 00:56:19,120

It's the same as

when I'm walking through my country...

 

475

00:56:19,240 --> 00:56:22,760

...I can feel my ancestors behind me.

 

476

00:56:24,320 --> 00:56:26,160

Like a strength behind me.

 

477

00:56:26,280 --> 00:56:29,640

<i>Wungerwil pathaima,</i> a strong feeling.

 

478

00:56:29,760 --> 00:56:33,240

Strong, that's what the <i>awa</i> there is.

 

479

00:56:33,360 --> 00:56:35,840

That's what it is, a strong feeling.

 

480

00:56:36,920 --> 00:56:38,520

It's not there.

 

481

00:56:39,200 --> 00:56:40,200

It's there.

 

482

00:57:49,960 --> 00:57:51,440

When we think of how...

 

483

00:57:52,640 --> 00:57:56,680

...the way our Aboriginal people

are treated in Australia...

 

484

00:57:56,800 --> 00:58:01,080

...by the Australian government...

 

485

00:58:02,840 --> 00:58:04,200

...and the...

 

486

00:58:04,720 --> 00:58:07,360

Oh, there they go. Look at that.

 

487

00:58:20,960 --> 00:58:22,440

But, um...

 

488

00:58:23,680 --> 00:58:26,440

You know, there's a back story.

 

489

00:58:26,560 --> 00:58:31,640

There's hidden secrets, hidden history

that they don't want to be known.

 

490

00:58:31,760 --> 00:58:33,960

Not even within the country itself...

 

491

00:58:34,080 --> 00:58:37,000

...to its own citizens.

 

492

00:58:37,120 --> 00:58:38,520

Another one.

 

493

00:58:54,120 --> 00:58:59,280

The colonisers came to the rivers

and looked to take over the rivers.

 

494

00:58:59,400 --> 00:59:04,560

And that's where our people were living,

on the rivers.

 

495

00:59:04,680 --> 00:59:08,880

And that's where the conflict, the massacres

and the conflict and the wars...

 

496

00:59:09,000 --> 00:59:13,360

...the Australian wars,

the first wars that Australia...

 

497

00:59:13,480 --> 00:59:18,560

It's the Australian wars.

The frontier wars, as we call them.

 

498

00:59:19,280 --> 00:59:26,360

And one such example is when they

would get the babies, the colonisers.

 

499

00:59:27,360 --> 00:59:31,680

The settlers would get the Aboriginal babies

and dig holes in the ground...

 

500

00:59:31,800 --> 00:59:38,800

...and bury them babies in the ground

with their heads sticking out and they would...

 

501

00:59:38,920 --> 00:59:43,120

...ride on their horsebacks

with their rifles...

 

502

00:59:43,240 --> 00:59:50,080

...and knock the babies' heads off

with the butt of their rifles.

 

503

01:00:01,480 --> 01:00:04,360

So every opportunity that I get...

 

504

01:00:06,040 --> 01:00:08,680

...I'll tell the truth,

truth telling.

 

505

01:02:00,920 --> 01:02:04,200

Have you had your portrait done before?

- No.

 

506

01:02:07,760 --> 01:02:09,720

Never sat still enough.

 

507

01:02:18,360 --> 01:02:23,680

I've got a friend who does <i>tā moko</i>,

tribal drawings on the skin.

 

508

01:02:23,800 --> 01:02:29,640

He's the one that has done me

from my feet right up...

 

509

01:02:29,760 --> 01:02:35,160

...my backside up my back,

and the last part of it was to do my face.

 

510

01:02:39,680 --> 01:02:45,960

Even in the late, early 1800s,

<i>tā moko</i> started to disappear...

 

511

01:02:46,080 --> 01:02:52,400

...because that was the time when heads

were taken for trophies and sent overseas.

 

512

01:02:55,960 --> 01:03:00,120

So they could be used as a piece

on somebody's mantelpiece.

 

513

01:03:00,240 --> 01:03:04,520

I wouldn't put one on either, because

that's what would happen back in those days.

 

514

01:03:04,640 --> 01:03:07,040

And then it went through a process of...

 

515

01:03:07,160 --> 01:03:11,200

A lot of our men

then started to wear it...

 

516

01:03:11,320 --> 01:03:14,160

...but they were the ones

that were in the justice system...

 

517

01:03:14,280 --> 01:03:17,960

...so that was their way of

saying to the Crown to go get lost.

 

518

01:03:18,080 --> 01:03:22,480

So they started to wear

the homemade one, I suppose.

 

519

01:03:22,600 --> 01:03:26,240

But it still told a story of their lives.

 

520

01:03:26,360 --> 01:03:32,320

But then it got taken into the gang culture

where it was used to frighten people.

 

521

01:03:33,440 --> 01:03:36,160

To make you look

the meanest of the mean...

 

522

01:03:36,280 --> 01:03:40,360

...so you could frighten people,

threaten people with it.

 

523

01:03:40,480 --> 01:03:45,360

But that was never ever

what <i>tā moko</i> was all about.

 

524

01:03:47,640 --> 01:03:50,080

Can you make my nose straight?

 

525

01:03:53,080 --> 01:03:55,880

The 70s wasn't a very nice time...

 

526

01:03:57,800 --> 01:03:59,480

...for us.

 

527

01:03:59,600 --> 01:04:05,160

We'd go into a shop to buy something

and then we'd get told to wait outside.

 

528

01:04:07,160 --> 01:04:10,600

Until all the customers had left,

and then we'd go inside...

 

529

01:04:10,720 --> 01:04:14,520

...and we'd get followed around the shop

by the shopkeeper.

 

530

01:04:15,640 --> 01:04:18,760

Because we were going to steal something.

 

531

01:04:18,880 --> 01:04:22,160

If you knew my father, you'd steal nothing.

 

532

01:04:22,280 --> 01:04:26,080

But again, it wasn't very nice.

 

533

01:04:27,800 --> 01:04:33,320

But my father was a very strong person.

He made sure we just carried on with life.

 

534

01:04:34,200 --> 01:04:36,760

He came back from the Second World War.

 

535

01:04:36,880 --> 01:04:41,200

A returned serviceman

in the 28th Māori Battalion.

 

536

01:04:41,320 --> 01:04:45,640

He ensured that

we didn't have a military life.

 

537

01:04:45,760 --> 01:04:48,120

But we were honest.

 

538

01:04:48,920 --> 01:04:51,960

And we'd keep to our word.

 

539

01:04:53,200 --> 01:04:56,240

And then as we got older,

we'd go to college.

 

540

01:04:56,360 --> 01:05:01,120

And then you had to learn French

and learn Latin as a language.

 

541

01:05:01,240 --> 01:05:05,080

And here we are, Māori,

if we wanted to learn our own language...

 

542

01:05:05,200 --> 01:05:11,000

...we had to do it at lunchtime,

during playtime or break time.

 

543

01:05:11,120 --> 01:05:14,360

So again, it was another shock.

 

544

01:05:15,160 --> 01:05:18,400

But thankfully,

we were still able to talk...

 

545

01:05:18,520 --> 01:05:23,960

...because Dad would talk and

Mum would talk in Te Reo, in our language.

 

546

01:05:37,520 --> 01:05:38,520

Jimmy.

 

547

01:05:39,440 --> 01:05:40,840

Leave it.

 

548

01:05:47,520 --> 01:05:49,520

Tying my knot.

 

549

01:05:51,040 --> 01:05:53,120

Can't leave you at home, eh?

 

550

01:05:53,240 --> 01:05:56,240

No, you'd better not,

you'd get into trouble.

 

551

01:05:56,360 --> 01:05:58,720

Check, check.

- Check.

 

552

01:05:58,840 --> 01:06:00,440

Sound check.

 

553

01:06:03,480 --> 01:06:10,400

I'm a corrections officer, been

in the corrections department for 28 years.

 

554

01:06:10,920 --> 01:06:14,000

I went straight into high security.

 

555

01:06:14,120 --> 01:06:16,960

It nearly broke me when I was in there.

 

556

01:06:19,040 --> 01:06:22,640

Only because I could see

what was coming in, and I knew them.

 

557

01:06:22,760 --> 01:06:27,880

It's like they're ten times around,

they just keep coming back.

 

558

01:06:29,000 --> 01:06:30,880

I'd talk to them...

 

559

01:06:31,000 --> 01:06:33,720

...trying to see what the problem was.

 

560

01:06:33,840 --> 01:06:36,160

It's not even my job.

 

561

01:06:36,280 --> 01:06:37,800

But, yeah...

 

562

01:06:43,080 --> 01:06:45,080

So I'm there to help.

 

563

01:06:45,200 --> 01:06:49,200

I was like a wire ready to snap.

 

564

01:06:49,320 --> 01:06:53,480

I mean, every day in high security

I was at war.

 

565

01:06:53,600 --> 01:06:56,960

I was on, like, war party all the time.

 

566

01:06:57,080 --> 01:06:58,600

It's not nice in there.

 

567

01:07:05,720 --> 01:07:08,520

I really don't like talking about it.

 

568

01:07:10,800 --> 01:07:12,920

My wife doesn't even know what it's like.

 

569

01:07:14,240 --> 01:07:17,680

She just sees a change in me

and doesn't say anything.

 

570

01:07:18,600 --> 01:07:22,520

What happened? She'll go.

And I'll go, oh nothing.

 

571

01:07:22,640 --> 01:07:25,240

I can't really talk about it.

 

572

01:07:26,120 --> 01:07:31,320

I could have had about four or five scraps

in one day. Just with prisoners.

 

573

01:07:32,480 --> 01:07:35,720

When I go home I just want to sleep.

 

574

01:07:44,000 --> 01:07:48,440

When somebody's not quite well,

not quite right, we call that a <i>mamae.</i>

 

575

01:07:48,560 --> 01:07:52,120

It's a bit of a burden or a load,

carrying a load.

 

576

01:07:58,320 --> 01:08:00,200

That's for sure.

 

577

01:08:02,520 --> 01:08:05,440

Ned, you said Stu's not a talker.

 

578

01:08:05,560 --> 01:08:08,080

I'm not really.

- I'm wrong.

 

579

01:08:09,120 --> 01:08:11,720

We're in the right place.

- Yeah.

 

580

01:08:12,800 --> 01:08:16,720

Honestly, we're in the right place

at the right time.

 

581

01:08:17,760 --> 01:08:20,720

That's why I bring them

on these things here.

 

582

01:08:24,880 --> 01:08:27,040

We look after each other.

 

583

01:08:29,000 --> 01:08:32,040

That's why we feel young all the time.

 

584

01:08:32,840 --> 01:08:34,480

Not even.

 

585

01:08:34,600 --> 01:08:39,240

Until you wake up in the morning

in your tent and you go like...

 

586

01:09:04,960 --> 01:09:09,040

There's a very popular TV series

in Norway...

 

587

01:09:09,160 --> 01:09:13,160

...and all it is about is

what's the best way to light a fire.

 

588

01:09:13,280 --> 01:09:15,280

A whole series?

 

589

01:09:15,400 --> 01:09:18,800

Slow learners.

 

590

01:09:18,920 --> 01:09:24,440

What do you have, slow burning matches?

- It started with one broadcast, 24 hours.

 

591

01:09:24,560 --> 01:09:27,840

And they were only talking about wood.

 

592

01:09:27,960 --> 01:09:30,880

From the tree to when it was sawn

to when it was cut...

 

593

01:09:31,000 --> 01:09:34,760

...and how you should stack it,

and how it would dry.

 

594

01:09:34,880 --> 01:09:39,120

And it was the whole day, the whole night,

and everybody was watching.

 

595

01:09:39,240 --> 01:09:42,480

All of Norway.

It was the most popular show ever.

 

596

01:09:42,600 --> 01:09:45,200

And now you got no trees in Norway.

 

597

01:09:47,720 --> 01:09:49,600

Just saying.

 

598

01:09:50,760 --> 01:09:54,200

So be careful, because he's here now.

 

599

01:09:54,320 --> 01:09:58,200

It's a take-over.

They really want our trees.

 

600

01:09:58,320 --> 01:10:02,600

You can have all the pine trees.

- Yeah, you can have all the pine trees.

 

601

01:10:08,760 --> 01:10:11,560

Amazing. What an amazing bird.

 

602

01:10:13,680 --> 01:10:15,880

You'll hear them.

 

603

01:10:17,320 --> 01:10:20,600

What bird is that?

- Kererū.

 

604

01:10:24,600 --> 01:10:28,040

Brought some friends here, look.

- Yeah, sure.

 

605

01:10:28,160 --> 01:10:30,200

Come over and join us.

 

606

01:10:35,400 --> 01:10:38,320

Sorry we're crashing your film shoot.

 

607

01:10:38,440 --> 01:10:40,160

Connor.

 

608

01:10:40,280 --> 01:10:42,040

Sophie.

 

609

01:10:45,400 --> 01:10:48,120

Welcome to Te Awa, to Whanganui.

 

610

01:10:48,240 --> 01:10:49,600

The woven waters...

 

611

01:10:49,720 --> 01:10:53,400

...is what's coming to my mind,

is how...

 

612

01:10:53,520 --> 01:10:57,880

...another brother from another mother,

talking about land...

 

613

01:10:58,000 --> 01:11:01,520

...has come over to take something

from this river...

 

614

01:11:01,640 --> 01:11:05,240

...so they can start the journey

on their river about personhood...

 

615

01:11:05,360 --> 01:11:09,600

...giving their waters

the same legal rights...

 

616

01:11:10,840 --> 01:11:13,160

...Western world rights, I suppose...

 

617

01:11:13,280 --> 01:11:17,440

...so they can start the journey

of looking after their river.

 

618

01:11:17,560 --> 01:11:21,520

I just want to welcome you all

from wherever you are.

 

619

01:11:21,640 --> 01:11:25,600

We've got many nations here tonight.

 

620

01:11:25,720 --> 01:11:27,320

We, the Māori.

 

621

01:11:28,040 --> 01:11:30,400

You, the Tati Tati.

 

622

01:11:30,520 --> 01:11:32,560

And you, the Canadian.

 

623

01:11:32,680 --> 01:11:36,360

It's the United Nations here.

- Is it? Oh, well.

 

624

01:11:36,480 --> 01:11:42,440

Let's go around the circle and say

who we are and where we're from.

 

625

01:11:42,560 --> 01:11:48,080

I'm Sef, I'm from the southern part

of Germany called Bavaria.

 

626

01:11:48,200 --> 01:11:53,400

The river where I was raised

was called the Lech...

 

627

01:11:54,000 --> 01:11:57,520

...and it goes into the Danube,

into the Black Sea.

 

628

01:11:57,640 --> 01:12:03,120

I'm Riikka, I'm from Finland,

the country of a thousand lakes.

 

629

01:12:03,240 --> 01:12:09,160

And the water I'm next to is Lohjanjärvi,

which is the Lohja lake.

 

630

01:12:10,680 --> 01:12:14,200

I thank you for this opportunity,

this is amazing.

 

631

01:12:14,320 --> 01:12:17,280

I'm very thankful for this moment.

 

632

01:12:18,680 --> 01:12:21,560

Hi, my name is Ivan,

I'm from France.

 

633

01:12:21,680 --> 01:12:23,480

I'm glad to be with you all.

 

634

01:12:23,600 --> 01:12:26,240

And something I learned on trail is:

 

635

01:12:26,360 --> 01:12:30,560

<i>Kanohi ki te kanohi,</i>

<i>tangata ki te tangata.</i>

 

636

01:12:30,680 --> 01:12:35,240

It really marked me. It means,

we're all different, but we're all equals.

 

637

01:12:35,360 --> 01:12:39,680

And if we continue to act like this,

we will build a better world.

 

638

01:12:39,800 --> 01:12:46,480

<i>flow, my ancestral river</i>

 

639

01:12:47,480 --> 01:12:54,000

<i>from the mountain</i>

<i>in the domains of Tangaroa...</i>

 

640

01:12:54,120 --> 01:12:58,040

We've come a long way,

we've still got a long way to go.

 

641

01:12:58,160 --> 01:13:01,240

You've got a long way to go,

but each step you take...

 

642

01:13:01,360 --> 01:13:05,560

...we've got a saying in our language:

<i>Iti nei, iti nei.</i>

 

643

01:13:05,680 --> 01:13:08,520

Piece by piece it will happen.

 

644

01:13:08,640 --> 01:13:11,600

You have rivers and lakes and seas

in your own country.

 

645

01:13:11,720 --> 01:13:14,560

Go home and look after your water.

 

646

01:13:14,680 --> 01:13:20,040

So, fight hard for that, for yourself,

for your families, for your children.

 

647

01:13:40,680 --> 01:13:45,520

It's funny. Whenever I'm coming out

of one of these voyages...

 

648

01:13:53,640 --> 01:13:58,480

...I start to dread the moment

where we return to reality.

 

649

01:13:59,080 --> 01:14:02,920

When you get phone reception

and your phone starts beeping...

 

650

01:14:03,040 --> 01:14:04,840

...and the emails start flooding in...

 

651

01:14:04,960 --> 01:14:10,160

...and slowly you move away

from this really special, natural...

 

652

01:14:10,280 --> 01:14:11,920

...simple life...

 

653

01:14:12,040 --> 01:14:16,320

...into this very dense,

noisy and complex reality.

 

654

01:14:41,280 --> 01:14:45,960

Since I met all of you, I wish

we had a similar project in Quebec...

 

655

01:14:46,080 --> 01:14:52,000

...on a river that is very important to me,

the Petit-Mécatina river.

 

656

01:14:52,120 --> 01:14:57,360

It's one of the next rivers that will be

swept away by a hydroelectric project.

 

657

01:14:57,480 --> 01:15:03,040

It could be a way to come together

to see what's more important:

 

658

01:15:03,920 --> 01:15:09,320

Produce ever more electricity

or find a shared space in nature...

 

659

01:15:09,440 --> 01:15:13,960

...before it's too late and

there are no more rivers like this.

 

660

01:15:20,960 --> 01:15:22,920

Have a good day, brother.

 

661

01:15:24,320 --> 01:15:26,720

Brother from another father.

 

662

01:15:36,520 --> 01:15:40,160

We have so much to learn

from indigenous cultures...

 

663

01:15:41,000 --> 01:15:44,480

...who have lived on the land

for an eternity.

 

664

01:15:44,600 --> 01:15:47,640

And it's that information

that we need...

 

665

01:15:47,760 --> 01:15:50,520

...that is going to save us.

Nothing else can, really.

 

666

01:15:54,200 --> 01:15:58,760

I think what we need is more

non-indigenous people becoming advocates.

 

667

01:15:58,880 --> 01:16:03,240

Because especially in Australia,

we're outnumbered.

 

668

01:16:03,800 --> 01:16:07,000

We're only 3 percent of the population.

 

669

01:16:08,400 --> 01:16:12,200

I do see a shift in my generation

and younger people my age...

 

670

01:16:12,320 --> 01:16:15,840

...that non-indigenous people

are starting to see the connections.

 

671

01:16:20,240 --> 01:16:24,680

Especially because of the environmental

issues we're all starting to face.

 

672

01:16:30,440 --> 01:16:33,240

So I think there is a slight shift.

 

673

01:16:35,560 --> 01:16:38,800

But I think we can't just expect

First Nations people...

 

674

01:16:38,920 --> 01:16:42,160

...to be the ones leading the front...

 

675

01:16:42,280 --> 01:16:44,120

...every single time, all of the time...

 

676

01:16:44,240 --> 01:16:47,360

...because it really wears us out.

 

677

01:16:49,280 --> 01:16:50,760

Keep going.

 

678

01:17:00,080 --> 01:17:04,600

But really, we need other people,

we need non-indigenous people...

 

679

01:17:04,720 --> 01:17:07,840

...to be the advocates for us

and with us.

 

680

01:17:17,320 --> 01:17:18,920

But we talk about:

 

681

01:17:19,040 --> 01:17:24,720

We have to turn to First Nations people

because they are going to save us.

 

682

01:17:26,920 --> 01:17:29,000

But what about all them?

 

683

01:17:36,760 --> 01:17:39,800

What about...

They're trying to tell us.

 

684

01:17:40,720 --> 01:17:45,520

All the birds, all the animals, all the fish,

every living thing is trying to tell us.

 

685

01:17:46,280 --> 01:17:47,600

Let's go to them.

 

686

01:19:25,160 --> 01:19:27,400

Greetings, old people.

 

687

01:20:07,120 --> 01:20:09,400

If you sit and listen...

 

688

01:20:09,520 --> 01:20:12,200

...you'll hear the country singing.

 

689

01:20:16,800 --> 01:20:18,400

All together.

 

690

01:20:23,720 --> 01:20:27,600

Intertwined.

In harmony, in sync.

 

691

01:21:56,360 --> 01:22:01,200

It's like our weaving

and how each individual strand...

 

692

01:22:03,320 --> 01:22:07,640

...yes, it might be an individual strand

of that one particular reed...

 

693

01:22:09,480 --> 01:22:14,400

...but it's weaved together with all these

other different elements to create...

 

694

01:22:15,680 --> 01:22:18,040

...what it is that we're weaving.

 

695

01:22:24,320 --> 01:22:26,320

And that's the same as...

 

696

01:22:29,160 --> 01:22:31,920

...country, and people...

 

697

01:22:33,440 --> 01:22:36,200

...and plants, and animals, and water.

 

698

01:22:37,120 --> 01:22:39,800

Everything represents...

 

699

01:22:39,920 --> 01:22:43,720

...one small, tiny little piece...

 

700

01:22:43,840 --> 01:22:46,920

...in this larger weave.

 

701

01:22:47,880 --> 01:22:51,440

Everything intertwined,

that bird up there...

 

702

01:22:52,360 --> 01:22:56,280

...and that little thing there

in the grass making noise...

 

703

01:22:56,400 --> 01:23:00,480

...that has its whole dreaming story,

creation story.

 

704

01:23:04,440 --> 01:23:06,880

And it relates.

 

705

01:23:14,240 --> 01:23:17,360

We call that in our country

the songlines.

 

706

01:23:21,080 --> 01:23:26,240

And that's what we hear on country,

we hear the songlines that come together.

 

707

01:23:26,360 --> 01:23:28,800

And it's like an orchestra.

 

708

01:23:41,360 --> 01:23:43,280

It might be silent.

 

709

01:23:48,480 --> 01:23:51,000

It might be the wind or the water...

 

710

01:24:43,880 --> 01:24:47,480

Just go to your river

and listen to your river.

 

711

01:24:59,120 --> 01:25:01,240

This is not goodbye.

 

712

01:25:04,040 --> 01:25:06,080

It's just the start.

 

713

01:25:08,400 --> 01:25:10,320

Yes...