Media

Marae Investigates Story

22 July 2012

NZ Olympians are the first recipients to be given a special gift of Tahutahi pounamu from Ngāi Tahu. TV One Marae Investigates looks at the work of Ngāi Tahu to regain control of pounamu in their rohe/region, and the reactions to it.

Watch the clip on the TV One website, Series 2012, Episode 37 | Marae Investigates

Kaniere pounamu raid

1 June 2012

Police seized 40kg of pounamu in a raid on a Kaniere property yesterday, as the request of Ngāi Tahu.

Read the full clipping kindly provided with permission of the Greymouth Star.

NZ-wide pounamu collective formed

6 June 2012

A new nationwide society aimed at bringing the pounamu industry together has been established in Hokitika. New Zealand Jade Artists Society spokeswoman Jenny Keogan said it would provide a forum for those interested in pounamu to share knowledge, information and resources.

Read the full clipping kindly provided with permission of the Hokitika Guardian.

South Westland pounamu set for Olympic athletes

1 June 2012

New Zealand Olympic athletes will wear a piece of South Westland close to the hearts during the London games. Ngāi Tahu authenticated carver Jeff Mahuika, of Hokitika, was contracted to create 350 pounamu pendants, one for each athlete.

Read the full clipping kindly provided with permission of the Hokitika Guardian.

Olympic athletes to wear precious taonga

13 June 2012

Ngai Tahu leaders have highlighted the significance of a gifting ceremony to be held at Te Tauraka Waka a Maui Marae at Bruce Bay on the West Coast today.

Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu Kaiwhakahaere, Mark Solomon, says it will be the first time that the truly beautiful tahutahi/snowflake pounamu has been legally used and appropriately gifted to New Zealand's Olympic Committee in order for athletes to wear the taonga close to their hearts during their time in London.

"It is an honour for Ngāi Tahu that the country's Olympic athletes will be the first to legitimately wear tahutahi/snowflake on the world stage," says Mark Solomon. "This taonga is one of the greatest taonga that Ngāi Tahu can give. Never before has it been legally carved and for our Papatipu Rūnanga, Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio, and for the wider iwi, this is an occasion of enormous significance."

Three-hundred-and-fifty tahutahi/snowflake pendants will be gifted over to the New Zealand Olympic Committee during the powhiri.

Read the full press release (112K Acrobat PDF)

Pounamu returns to West Coast

27 February 2012

A 175kg block of pounamu seized by Customs officials was returned to West Coast Māori yesterday, amin a crackdown of illegal trade in the Ngāi Tahu-owned stone.

A boulder seized in December 2010 was symbolically returned at a ceremony on a Christchurch marae, amid warnings from both Customs and the tribe that the export of raw or processed jade is illegal. It has been illegal for over 60 years, unless consented by the Minister of Customs and with the written approval of West Coast Ngāi Tahu.

Read the full article kindly provided with permision of the Greymouth Star. (200K Acrobat PDF)

Greenstone take concerns tribe

12 January 2012

Council clarifies rules in Coastal Plan

The rule surrounding the taking of pounamu from the southern beaches of the South Island has been clarified in an amendment to the Environment Southland Regional Coastal Plan, adopted last month by the council.

Any quantity, no matter how small, requires approval from iwi before being taken away.

Ngāi Tahi Waihōpai Rūnaka head Michael Skerrett said there might be some confusion about whether public fossicking was allowed in Southland, as some beaches on the West Coast allowed it. Some areas are being promoted as good collecting spots, and helicopters had been landing on beaches for people to fossick. "There is a real concern that in no time at all, there will be nothing there", said Mr Skerrett.

Read the full article kindly provided with permision of the Southland Times. (300K Acrobat PDF)

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 (1,4MB Acrobat PDF).

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.