Media

Greenstone carver gets iwi backing

4 January 2012

Paul Graham, a pounamu carver based in Dargaville and a member of this website, was featured in an article in the Dargaville and Districts News in early Janaury 2012.

"Paul Graham has carved out his career in stone ” greenstone to be exact. Mr Graham first became introduced to carving when he was 22 years old in 2002.

Since then he has created a name for himself and won support from the only legal owners of greenstone, South Island Iwi group Ngāi Tahu.

I'm a stone carver with a major point of difference, the stone I use is registered greenstone,' he says."

Read the full article kindly provided with permision of the Dargaville and Districts News.

Tracing Pounamu

Summer, 2010

Kaituhituhi (writer) Sally Blundell, writing for the Te Karaka magazine, investigates the Ngāi Tahu Pounamu scheme to ensure that legitimately sources Ngāi Tahu pounamu is easily recognised and respected.

"Formed millions of years ago in magnesium-rich rocks deep below the earth's surface, pounamu (greenstone) is a taonga for generations of Ngāi Tahu whanui ” in particular the peoples of Te Tai o Poutini, the West Coast of the South Island. It is also a must-have memento for tourists, a meaningful gift for New Zealanders and yet the origin of souvenir pounamu is often murky.

Without labels, tags, or written information, customers have no way of knowing if the pendant on the shop counter has been made from cheap Canadian jade, illegally sourced pounamu from New Zealand, New Zealand pounamu carved in China or legally extracted, locally hand-crafted South Island pounamu.

This uncertainty has a negative impact on the tourism industry and is especially bad for pounamu carvers, forced to compete with cheap imported stone. It is bad for buyers, who have no idea what they are buying. A 2002 University of Otago study found many tourists are reluctant to buy pounamu because they could not determine quality or provenance.

However for the last eight years, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu has been working alongside the nine Papatipu Runanga recognised as ngā kaitiaki (guardians) for the pounamu that occurs within their regions. In the past year Te Rūnanga has developed a certification scheme that identifies legitimately sourced New Zealand pounamu."
Read the full article on the Te Karaka website

Ngāi Tahu are an indigenous Māori people of New Zealand's South Island or Te Waipounamu

Ngāi Tahu are the kaitiaki (guardians) of New Zealand greenstone or jade, which is found in Te Waipounamu (South Island of New Zealand). Ngāi Tahu people refer to New Zealand greenstone as pounamu. In 1997 the New Zealand government returned to the Ngāi Tahu elected tribal council – Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, ownership of all naturally occurring pounamu within their tribal area.

Since the Act was passed the Ngāi Tahu tribal council has been working with its many sub-tribes to create an appropriate system for managing the resource. The first step was to develop a resource management plan to look at ways of protecting pounamu in a sustainable and responsible way for future generations.

The plan made provision for a tracing system and assurance scheme to certify Ngāi Tahu pounamu and set it apart from imported and black market products that are portrayed as genuine. Similar systems are commonly used throughout the world in industries such as diamonds, opiates, wool and organic foods.