title: Aihe Pepene

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: Sharing the same illustrious whakapapa as his brother Reha Aperahama, Aihe Pepene was prominent when living in the Thames district before settling at Te Aroha in 1878. When speculators tried to acquire the Thames foreshore from Pepene and others in 1870, he became involved in the subsequent legal actions over unpaid promissory notes. Later he would acquire interests in many blocks of land, and received a steady income by leasing or selling these plus his share in the goldfields revenue. When the Aroha Block was considered by the land court for the last time, in 1878, he conducted the case for Ngati Rahiri.
He invested in four Hauraki goldfields, and was briefly an owner and skipper of two small river steamers, an unsuccessful endeavour that resulted in his being forced to sell more land to meet his debts. Once his 1880 and 1881 financial difficulties were resolved, no more such problems recurred. 
A leading rangatira in Hauraki generally as well as at Te Aroha, he would be elected to a Maori Committee that was soon revealed to have no significance. Closely involved with Pakeha, he assisted settlement, and his loyalty to the Crown was illustrated by his becoming an officer in the Thames Native Volunteer Corps. A member of the Church of England for many years, like many Maori he became a Mormon, a faith perhaps more appropriate to his private life, for he had more than one wife, notoriously eloping with the wife of a more senior rangatira despite already being married.

text: Aihe Pepene Sharing the same illustrious whakapapa as his brother Reha Aperahama, Aihe Pepene was prominent when living in the Thames district before settling at Te Aroha in 1878. When speculators tried to acquire the Thames foreshore from Pepene and others in 1870, he became involved in the subsequent legal actions over unpaid promissory notes. Later he would acquire interests in many blocks of land, and received a steady income by leasing or selling these plus his share in the goldfields revenue. When the Aroha Block was considered by the land court for the last time, in 1878, he conducted the case for Ngati Rahiri.
He invested in four Hauraki goldfields, and was briefly an owner and skipper of two small river steamers, an unsuccessful endeavour that resulted in his being forced to sell more land to meet his debts. Once his 1880 and 1881 financial difficulties were resolved, no more such problems recurred. 
A leading rangatira in Hauraki generally as well as at Te Aroha, he would be elected to a Maori Committee that was soon revealed to have no significance. Closely involved with Pakeha, he assisted settlement, and his loyalty to the Crown was illustrated by his becoming an officer in the Thames Native Volunteer Corps. A member of the Church of England for many years, like many Maori he became a Mormon, a faith perhaps more appropriate to his private life, for he had more than one wife, notoriously eloping with the wife of a more senior rangatira despite already being married.

year: 2016

title: Is the web being used to speak our language?

authors: Keegan, Te Taka Adrian Gregory

subjects: WWW

abstract: This paper presents results from extensive surveys of the usage of Maori language on the World Wide Web(www, Web) conducted in 1998 and 2002. Issues both supportive and detrimental relating to the use and publication of indigenous languages in the WWW will be highlighted. Specifically: how is the WWW being used to articulate the Maori language?

text: Is the web being used to speak our language? This paper presents results from extensive surveys of the usage of Maori language on the World Wide Web(www, Web) conducted in 1998 and 2002. Issues both supportive and detrimental relating to the use and publication of indigenous languages in the WWW will be highlighted. Specifically: how is the WWW being used to articulate the Maori language?

year: 2004

title: A Distant Star: Creative writing thesis: speculative science fiction

authors: Childs, Rachel Jade

subjects: Creative writing

abstract: When Humanity left a ruined Earth, they vowed to leave behind everything that brought them to that bleak choice. It was the end of the world; if they could not change, they weren’t worthy of a second chance on another planet. Tearing down unliveable cities, they built kilometres-long space-ships, able to support generations of travellers on their Migration to the most likely habitable exoplanets. A Distant Star opens at the end of the city-ship La Sesa’s journey, as it comes into orbit around their new homeworld. 
However, the planet is already inhabited by a native sapient species. Acknowledging that Humanity doesn’t have a great track record with such situations, La Sesa sends a historian, Lirit Sanget, and her team – medic Anahera and comm-tech Hikoa – to open communication with the local peoples. 
Lirit has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a connective tissue disorder and the common comorbid condition Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. Her limitations change the way she navigates a dangerous environment, but she forges her own path on an uncharted world. 
Lirit, Ana, and Hikoa are pulled into a parallel world even less familiar than their new home. In this polarized reality, they find two species in a generational war. The three realize that their own biases affect their perception of the conflict: whose side they believe, which species they relate to, how they interact with warriors when all they know of war is a historical footnote. As the three piece the two species’ stories together, they struggle with the realization that they have to watch their ancestors’ mistakes play out all over again, and they cannot step in to stop it. They can only see their own choices in new light and find a way to change the trajectory of their future. 

Positive, forward-looking, scientifically sound speculative science fiction is crucial right now. The trends in our modern-cycle news, media, fiction reflect the bleak dystopia of our global reality. We need stories that show us ways of pulling us out of the hell we’re heading for, of fixing what is broken, of reaching Humanity’s potential. Sci-Fi is so much more than escapist popular drivel or cool futuristic aesthetic; sci-fi is, and always has been, a way to tell such stories. 
I was largely inspired to write this book by reading the Wayfarers Trilogy by Becky Chambers, especially the last book in the trilogy, Record of a Spaceborn Few. It was the first time I had a clear example of how a “post-inequity” society could function, what issues might arise in that society, and how to address those issues. It gave a tangible goal for activist work, and it gave me hope in our future. With this thesis, I aim to illustrate an equitable society; to use my lived experience to increase accurate, meaningful representation of people with disabilities in fiction; and redefine who can be considered a “science fiction action hero”. Writing this manuscript is a way I can help others the same way stories like the Wayfarers have helped me.

text: A Distant Star: Creative writing thesis: speculative science fiction When Humanity left a ruined Earth, they vowed to leave behind everything that brought them to that bleak choice. It was the end of the world; if they could not change, they weren’t worthy of a second chance on another planet. Tearing down unliveable cities, they built kilometres-long space-ships, able to support generations of travellers on their Migration to the most likely habitable exoplanets. A Distant Star opens at the end of the city-ship La Sesa’s journey, as it comes into orbit around their new homeworld. 
However, the planet is already inhabited by a native sapient species. Acknowledging that Humanity doesn’t have a great track record with such situations, La Sesa sends a historian, Lirit Sanget, and her team – medic Anahera and comm-tech Hikoa – to open communication with the local peoples. 
Lirit has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, a connective tissue disorder and the common comorbid condition Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. Her limitations change the way she navigates a dangerous environment, but she forges her own path on an uncharted world. 
Lirit, Ana, and Hikoa are pulled into a parallel world even less familiar than their new home. In this polarized reality, they find two species in a generational war. The three realize that their own biases affect their perception of the conflict: whose side they believe, which species they relate to, how they interact with warriors when all they know of war is a historical footnote. As the three piece the two species’ stories together, they struggle with the realization that they have to watch their ancestors’ mistakes play out all over again, and they cannot step in to stop it. They can only see their own choices in new light and find a way to change the trajectory of their future. 

Positive, forward-looking, scientifically sound speculative science fiction is crucial right now. The trends in our modern-cycle news, media, fiction reflect the bleak dystopia of our global reality. We need stories that show us ways of pulling us out of the hell we’re heading for, of fixing what is broken, of reaching Humanity’s potential. Sci-Fi is so much more than escapist popular drivel or cool futuristic aesthetic; sci-fi is, and always has been, a way to tell such stories. 
I was largely inspired to write this book by reading the Wayfarers Trilogy by Becky Chambers, especially the last book in the trilogy, Record of a Spaceborn Few. It was the first time I had a clear example of how a “post-inequity” society could function, what issues might arise in that society, and how to address those issues. It gave a tangible goal for activist work, and it gave me hope in our future. With this thesis, I aim to illustrate an equitable society; to use my lived experience to increase accurate, meaningful representation of people with disabilities in fiction; and redefine who can be considered a “science fiction action hero”. Writing this manuscript is a way I can help others the same way stories like the Wayfarers have helped me.

year: 2022