Decolonising Moutoa Gardens

Ahlia-Mei Ta'ala has just finished a Master of Landscape Architecture at Auckland’s Unitec. She’s a descendent of Te Awa Tupua from Ngāti Hineoneone and Ngā Poutama, as well having Samoan heritage.

Here she writes about her thesis.

My thesis The Fires of Ambition: Te Awa Tupua 2040 is an exploration into the aspirations of Whanganui uri; the values of Te Awa Tupua; and how they align to produce design cues. 

Ahlia-Mei Ta'ala making her final master’s presentation to examiners.

This exploration led to design research into the whakapapa of Te Awa Tupua and the impacts of colonisation on the enitity, resulting in the development of a Te Awa Tupua design framework and ultimately, the design of a Te Awa Tupua Hub through the reclamation of Pākaitore. 

Located in the centre of Whanganui City along the edge of the awa, Pākaitore is of great significance to Whanganui uri and is a central site of Whanganuitanga. Pākaitore was a sanctuary, a trading hub and gathering place used by many hapū from the length of the awa and from neighbouring tribes. 

The Tira Hoe Waka passes by Hiruhārama as it travels from pā to pā along the river from the mountain to the sea.

Pākaitore is a site that has brought all uri of the Whanganui awa together – prior to European arrival; in resisting colonisation during early settler-colonial history, as well as in 1995 when it became the principal site of reasserting Whanganuitanga through the 79 day occupation of Pākaitore.  

Currently named Moutoa Gardens, the site immortalises the colonisation of Whanganui through colonial monuments, the Whanganui District Court, built heritage, dominant exotic trees and place names throughout. 

Pākaitore as it stands today is an exhibition of the colonial tools and methods utilised throughout Whanganui’s colonisation. A site of such great significance to Whanganui uri, stripped of its mana and mauri to display colonial victory through the current spatial organisation and activation of the site. Herein lies the importance for decolonising Moutoa Gardens and in re-indigenising Pākaitore to strengthen Whanganuitanga and ahikātanga within Whanganui City, for the future of Te Awa Tupua. 

What drove this project really was my desire to strengthen my understanding of my whakapapa and how I connect to place through that, and in doing so, utilise my research towards Te Awa Tupua and my iwi. This led to me being on the Tira Hoe Waka at the beginning of 2020 in search of enlightenment. 

Tira Hoe Waka arriving at Pīpīriki during the pilgrimage.

The Tira Hoe Waka is the annual pilgrimage down the Whanganui river for Whanganui uri, in which we paddle from pā to pā along the river from the mountain to the sea over the course of two weeks. 

For two weeks we shift into the rhythm of our ancestors, with the river as our highway and our source of spiritual and physical sustenance. The Tira Hoe Waka is the ahi kā of our tūpuna mātauranga, of our ancestral way of life, it holds the stories and practises of our tūpuna, and is an expression of our Whanganuitanga. 

At the end of this journey, I still didn’t quite know how to shape a masters project that would be of benefit to the iwi however, while I was on the tira I started hearing whispers of the upcoming iwi hui He Waka Pakoko. 

In March 2020, Ngā Tāngata Tiaki o Whanganui (the post settlement governance entity for Whanganui Iwi for the purpose of the Whanganui River Settlement) gathered Whanganui iwi to set the pathway forward to collectively define our aspirations for 2040 through a two day hui, He Waka Pakoko - Pathway to 2040. 

Workshops engaged iwi members to imagine what their ideal state for Te Awa Tupua and Whanganui iwi would be in 2040. For me, this was the prime opportunity to design a masters project around; capturing and exploring the aspirations of Whanganui iwi for the future of Te Awa Tupua.

Ahlia-Mei Ta'ala’s overall design concept for the Te Awa Tupua hub at Pākaitore.

This design project brings the kaupapa of the Tira Hoe Waka forward in the design of a Te Awa Tupua hub at Pākaitore through the whakapapa and pūrākau of Whanganui iwi and Te Awa Tupua. 

For me, what’s most important about this project is that the Te Awa Tupua design framework can be further developed with Ngā Tāngata Tiaki o Whanganui to inform and strengthen their design footprint across the landscape of Te Awa Tupua so that councils are meeting their treaty obligations by upholding the values and principles of Te Awa Tupua. 

It enables the aspirations of Whanganui iwi to be the focal point throughout urban development across the landscape of Te Awa Tupua. It is a framework that can guide how the treaty partners work together in the design of our cities and landscapes – in the decolonisation and re-indigenisation of Whanganui City and the Te Awa Tupua landscape from the mountains to the sea.