Kupe’s descendant confirms other races were here first

 

Elocal editor Mykeljon Winkel has come up trumps again with a story about Ngapuhi’s achiever chief David Rankin.

ELOCAL

“You recently voiced support for historians who claim that New Zealand was settled much earlier than commonly accepted. Are you merely supporting free speech and political incorrectness, or do you genuinely believe that there were other civilizations here in NZ before the arrival of Kupe circa 1250AD?”

DAVID RANKIN

“Let me just start off and say this, Maori are not the indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand. There were many other races already living here long before Kupe arrived. I am his direct descendant and I know from our oral history passed down 44 generations.

I believe this needs to be investigated further because every Maori community talks about Waitaha, Turehu and Patupaiarehe. This goes hand-in-hand with the other research.

As Maori, we have come to a time of maturity where we need to debate these issues. I want to get to a genuine consensus about this issue, although I think academics want it to disappear. If we start talking about it and investigating it, it’s an exciting opportunity to explore.

My ancestors like Kupe came to the Hokianga in search of other people. In the Waima ranges, there was a pipi shelter on the mountains, and the kuia used to talk about the fair skinned people up there.

A lot of people identify as Paniora (translated as Spaniard), indicating that the Portuguese and Spanish washed up on ancient ships in Northland.

In 2002, I went to the Austronesian Leaders Conference in Taiwan and we discussed similarities with Taiwanese Aborigines. We traced our origins and the Maori and Polynesian connection to China.

All the leaders such as myself and Matiu Rei, Aborigines, Solomon islanders, Rapa Nui and Hawaiians were all interested in early settlement theories. There is a lot of writing about the whole ancestral link.

Really, Maori didn’t navigate here, we came on a tidal drift. Te Tai Tokerau is actually the tidal drift from the Tokelau islands. When my ancestors arrived at the shores of Aotearoa, there were people here to greet them. The question is: who are those people?

It goes hand-in- hand with our oral history. There are questions written by Ian Wishart, Noel Hilliam and others that need to be answered.”

Elocal has championed the quest for more openness on pre-Maori settlement in New Zealand. The case is well-summarised in a recent story by Raynor Capper on the Waipoua Forest stone city subtitled Undeniable Proof of NZ Civilisation Before Kupe.

Most interesting to me is National Archives’ 75-year embargo of evidence found in a three-year state investigation of 500 acres of the 25,000 acre historical treasure trove in the 1980s.

Is the idea of a pre-Maori stone city in the Waipoua Forest the ludicrous fantasy of nutters, as  our haughty Appeaser-General Chris Finlayson claims?

If so, why must we wait until 2063 to see what state investigators found there in the 1980s? 

ELOCAL

“What do you think the ramifications would be if Maori appeared not to be the indigenous people of New Zealand?”

DAVID RANKIN

“That would put all our treaty claims in question and our indigenous rights at the UN. It would open up a whole can of worms. I do believe if we start approaching it the right way other Maori would be keen to discuss it.

I think there has been a rot been allowed to set in to Maoridom since the Lange government took power in the early 1980s.

In many ways, all the changes that have taken place have taken the basic responsibility away, their mana, from being true Maori, like working for a living, educating themselves and their families, leading strong lives and observing the laws of the land.

If you are able to work then work! Help your fellow Maori and Pakehas be successful in life. Being Maori — and, let’s face it, you only need to be 32% by government standards — does not mean you need to take the easy way out and have your hand out.

I have never taken anything from the government, I am self made, strong and I say stop the funding. Maori need to return to the warriors they once were.

It may be hard at first but intergenerational beneficiaries are embarrassing to my culture.”

How long till they claim the sun?

As I’m sure Eddie Durie or David Rankin will soon remind you, Maori (in the form of Maui) invented daylight saving.

This means their iwi should be entitled to charge for sunlight and heat.

Expect the following hysterical (I mean historical) evidence to be heard and swiftly approved by the Waitangi Tribunal:

How Maui Tamed the Sun

Maui had often heard his brothers talking about how there was not enough sunlight during the day.

Night after night they would sit round the fire and discuss this problem.

No matter how early they got up, still there weren’t enough hours of sunlight for all their village duties and for hunting and fishing.

So Maui thought about what he could do to solve their problem.

Then he announced to his brothers that he had found a solution: ‘I think I can tame the Sun.’

‘Maui, don’t be so ridiculous!’ they replied. ‘No one can tame the Sun.

‘For a start, if you got anywhere near him you would be burnt to a cinder.

‘There  is no way of taming the Sun. He’s far too big and powerful.’

But Maui said, with great authority this time, ‘Look, I can tame the Sun.

‘Get all the women of the tribe to go and cut as much flax as possible — I want a really huge pile — then I will show you how to make a net that will be strong enough to capture the Sun.

‘I will make sure that he won’t go so quickly across the sky in future.’

The brothers obeyed him and when they had collected mounds of flax Maui showed them how to plait it into strong ropes.

He made long ropes and short ropes, and tied some of them together to make a net gigantic enough to catch and hold the Sun.

After many hours of plaiting they finally had enough rope and nets to please Maui.

Then he set off, equipped with his special axe, with his brothers and some men from the tribe and it took several days to reach the Sun’s resting place in the East.

After a short stop they started their preparations.

They found the cave from which the Sun would be rising next morning and they quickly set to work covering the entrance with the net of plaited ropes.

When they were sure they had done a really good job they camouflaged the ropes with leaves and branches.

They also made themselves clay walls as a protection against the Sun’s fierce heat, and smeared the clay all over their bodies.

Then they hid. 

Maui crouched down on one side of the cave and the rest of the men were on the other side.

It wasn’t long before they saw the first glimmer of light from the cave.

Then they felt the scorching heat.

The men were shaking with fear as the light grew more and more blinding and the heat more and more stifling.

They were sure that Maui’s plan would not work.

Suddenly they heard a sharp shout from Maui, ‘Pull! Pull the ropes as hard as you can.’

The net fell like a huge noose over the Sun.

Although the men were terrified that the Sun would kill them all, they pulled and strained as hard as they possibly could so that the Sun could not escape.

The Sun, who was raging at being held captive, struggled and roared.

Maui knew he had to do something more than just hold the Sun in the net so he yelled to one of his brothers to take his end of the rope.

He rushed out from the protection of his wall and, with his special axe raised high above his head, he ran towards the Sun.

Even though the heat was singing his body and his hair, he started to attack the Sun with his axe.

The Sun roared even louder. ‘What are you doing? Are you trying to kill me?’ he screamed.

‘No. I am not trying to kill you,’ answered Maui, ‘but you don’t understand.

‘You go too fast across the sky, and we are all unable to do our daily work.

‘We need more hours of light in our days for hunting and fishing, for building and repairing our village houses.’

‘Well,’ said the Sun, ‘you have given me such a battering that I don’t think I could speed across the sky now, even if I wanted to.’

‘If we release you,’ said Maui, ‘will you promise to slow your journey down?’

‘You have so weakened me that now I can only go slowly,’ answered the Sun.

Maui made him solemnly promise to do what he had asked and then he released the ropes.

Maui’s brothers and the men of the tribe watched as the Sun, slowly and stiffly, began to lift into the sky.

They all smiled at Maui — they were proud of him.

To this day, the Sun travels on his long lonely path across the sky at a very slow pace, giving us many more hours of sunlight than he used to do.

Of course, it remains to be determined exactly what quantum of extra light and heat Maui and his brothers were able to extract from the sun by slowing its passage across the sky.

But no doubt the ancestors of Messrs Durie and Rankin — those who were contemporaries of Maui — will have furnished the two expropriators (I mean experts) with the most compelling oral evidence.

‘Justice’ Durie will, I’m sure, argue that the sun’s rays were more highly prized by Maori than by the British because Maori clothes and houses were not as able to keep out the cold.

Mr Rankin, from the winterless north, will likely point to the sun god Ra’s obvious distaste for white people, since he keeps burning them.

With this sort of authoritative advocacy, Pakeha rights to the Great Golden Taonga should be gone by sundown.