Flavell Te Ururoa: Rotorua Library Trust Fund Variation Bill — First Reading 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Rotorua Library Trust Fund Variation Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:632;Page:4019] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki 
) 
: 
 Kia ora ano tatou katoa e noho nei i tenei po. [ 
Greetings to us all sitting here once again tonight. 
] I stand with considerable pride to support my colleague Steve Chadwick in respect of this bill the Rotorua Library Trust Fund Variation Bill. As the member for Waiariki I am delighted to endorse the original intention specified in the will of Elizabeth Ann Seddon-Johnson in relation to the Rotorua Public Library. Like others I note the generosity and foresight of the benefactor in bequeathing the residue of her estate to be used towards the building of a new wing for the Rotorua Public Library. This sort of idea is really commendable and will bring huge benefits to the whole community. I indeed have visited and used the facility. My children are all members of the library—they are all cardholders—and I have a fine thesis sitting in a cupboard of the library which I hope will benefit all. 
I understand that Mr and Mrs Seddon lived on the corner of Arawa Street and Fenton Street in Rotorua. Mr Seddon owned the Comet shop one of the first shops in Rotorua. On the grave in which he is buried in Sala Street is a great bust of himself whereas the original library had a more modest plaque that acknowledged Mrs Seddon. That plaque is today nowhere to be found. So in many respects this bill serves another purpose in honouring her and her intentions as per the terms of her 1932 will.  
I am also profoundly proud to stand here today in recognition of the respect that books and literature receive in te Waiariki. It is a source of encouragement to me that many of our rangatahi Maori take up the opportunity to use these fabulous resources. The Books in Homes concept for example is encouraged at Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Te Koutu which my children attend.  
In this last week in which we have honoured Guide Bubbles I think too of another hostess guide at Whakarewarewa Guide Maggie Makereti Papakura. She was of Ngati Wahiao Te Arawa and Pakeha descent. Maggie Papakura was raised by the senior members of her mother’s family and educated in Maori knowledge from the time of her birth in 1873. She developed a love of literature and writing that was formalised in 1924 when she settled at Oxford University in England and began to record her knowledge of Maori life and customs for a Bachelor of Science. Tragically just weeks before her thesis examination in 1930 she died. However her work  
The Old-Time Maori 
 was published posthumously and remains a significant scholarly reference source that will no doubt be a treasured part of the Rotorua local history section of our library. Following Makereti Papakura’s death in 1930 her friend and Oxford academic counsellor T.K. Penniman wrote: “The secret of her own greatness of soul lay in knowing who she was.”  
Thinking about the benefits and value that this bill offers to the Rotorua library I turn to the resources that will stock the shelves and tell us who indeed we are. The use of the book as a vital tool to advance the revitalisation of Maori society has its source in 1923 when Sir Apirana Ngata established the Board of Maori Ethnological Research to publish Elsdon Best’s manuscripts on Maori culture and other writings by contributors to the  
Journal of the Polynesian Society 
. Throughout the next 80 years the bibliography of Maori books bloomed each new decade bringing a distinctive chapter in our history of Aotearoa. One need only look at the pageant of New Zealand books published in 1958 by A.H. and A.W. Reed—classics such as  
How the Maori Lived 
  
Living in a Maori Village 
 and  
How the White Men Came 
—to get a fascinating insight into the society of the time. Of course questions about whether a book is a Maori book or whether it was written by a non-Maori will inevitably come into the debate.  
Yesterday the Hon Brian Donnelly talked about Ken Mair’s whanaunga Captain Gilbert Mair in relation to a new book called  
Maori Treasures of New Zealand: Ko Tawa 
. It includes stories of the tribes and people associated with each of the taonga he collected in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The book includes interviews with and photographs of descendants of those who both created and gifted their taonga to Gilbert Mair including Murirangaranga the flute associated with the stories around Lake Rotorua that were to do with Tutanekai and Hinemoa.  
The history of our taonga and ourselves and our knowing who we are can illuminate the past to enhance our present. In light of this I refer to one of our most recent taonga  
The Art of Maori Weaving: The Eternal Thread—Te Aho Mutunga Kore 
 
written by Miriama Evans and Ranui Ngarimu and published by Huia Publishers. This book has been named as a finalist in the 2006 Montana New Zealand Book Awards in the lifestyle and contemporary culture category.  
The Art of Maori Weaving 
 has also been nominated for the Textile Society of America’s R L Shep Award for its exceptional scholarship in the field of ethnic textile traditions. In making reference to just one or two examples I do not say that one is better than the another; I do so to illustrate the variety the excellence and the distinctive body of work encompassed in Maori literature that our libraries can draw on.  
The production of that literature is being nurtured by three key initiatives that I want to refer to briefly. The first is Te Hunga Taunaki Kaituhi Maori a committee that has encouraged writers to publish works reflective of the best writing in Maori. The committee consisting of Wena Tait Dr Merimeri Penfold and Dr Hirini Moko Mead is committed to the retention of Maori knowledge through publications in te reo Maori. The committee assists in finding publishers and provides a mentoring role for new writers. One example is  
Eruera Manuera 
 written by Te Onehou Phillis which was published by Huia Publishers and won a special award in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards in 2002.  
The second is Te Ha a forum of contemporary Maori writers to promote excellence in writing and to encourage new writers. The initiatives include On the Bus an annual showcase of readings and performances that takes Maori literature around the country and provides workshops on writing. Te Ha was first kicked off in 1991 by Witi Ihimaera and Patricia Grace who are well known throughout Aotearoa with a tour of Taranaki. They came to Waiariki in 2004 and this year are travelling across to Gisborne and the East Coast.  
The third initiative I refer to is the Maori writers’ national hui the biennial gathering of Maori writers and other individuals passionate about contemporary Maori literature. This year’s hui is to be held here in Wellington in September.  
I wanted to use the opportunity provided by the Rotorua Library Trust Fund Variation Bill to talk briefly about Maori literature because I wanted to correct a perception some people have that denies our distinctive role in the written genre. Our strength as tangata whenua artists is derived from our oral traditions our stories our truths and our learnings from the past that guide us into the future. But because we are fine orators or passionate storytellers does not mean that we are not also excellent writers of books. 
Although our whaikorero is distinctive our talents as Maori publishers are also worthy of note. Publishers such as Huia Publishers produce books that have a significant Maori voice and build on the high quality of Maori work already published. Mauri Tu was formed by Robyn and the late Dooley Kahukiwa and Kaitora Publishers based in Hamilton publishes educational products and services that have a strong Maori theme. The Kia Ata Mai Educational Trust develops and promotes Maori literacy programmes for readers in kura kaupapa Maori and Maori medium schools. 
The Rotorua Library Trust Fund Variation Bill will enable the Rotorua district to access capital—some $300000—to support the much-needed extension to the local library. As the member for Waiariki I am delighted to support this bill and I realise the benefits of the smooth passing of this legislation which will ensure access to these sorts of facilities throughout our community. Te Arawa indeed will be much richer for the opportunity to access increased resources that will lead us further to knowing who we are. Kia ora tatou.