Internship project

This summer internship was organised by Dr. Te Taka Keegan to be a Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Named Internship supervised by Dr. Kim Pickering at The University of Waikato. The project was called “He Tohu Maumahara ki a Paora Mato” and involved the creation of a 3D printed Tekoteko with a harakeke based biodegradable filament for a trophy in memory of Paora Mato, a staff member at The University of Waikato who unfortunately passed away last year in June.

This report has been prepared for Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga as part of the summer internship programme 2018-2019. This project is titled Tangaroa Ara Rau: Whānau connections and Water Safety with a purpose to understand unique whānau connections to water and its benefit for water safety.

Throughout the summer of 2018 Terina Raureti (Ngāti Raukawa) was given the opportunity to work alongside the waka club Hauteruruku ki Puketeraki and their Tūmai Ora initiative which focused on engaging rangatahi with their pepeha through waka.

This research report has been titled Rākau-nui as an acknowledgement to the full moon phase in the Maramataka (Māori lunar calendar). Rākau-nui also represents the collected journey to which this full report has been constructed from. The Maramataka is
a repository of ancient and traditional knowledge orally handed down throughout the generations by our forebears to ensure the sustainability of a healthy environment and thus healthy people (Tawhai, 2013).

The Maramataka is a system of phases which allow Māori to construct ways to interact with the environment.