‘Wan solwara’: Moving Māori and Pacific relations forward

Koroneihana celebrations held last month saw a historic invitation to Pacific people to engage in discussions about kotahitanga - unity.

During the tangihanga (funeral) of the late Māori monarch, Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII, Pacific communities gathered to pay respects and reaffirm support for Māori in heeding that call.

President of the Auckland Wantok Association Florie Takalo Dausabea was at both Koroneihana and the tangihanga and she told PMN News that they showed up to honour a strong connection with Māori.

“I think it’s really important the relationship between Tangata Whenua and our Solomon Islands community here in Aotearoa.

“This is now a home for a lot of our kids who whakapapa to tangata whenua, to support and pay respects to Kiingi Tuheitia, for Tainui, and for tangata whenua.”

Dausabea said they “had to go” when the chairman of the Pacific Leadership Forum, Teleiai Edwin Puni, called the group to reassemble just one week after their first visit to Tuurangawaewae Marae.

Teleiai also spoke with PMN News about the long-awaited reunion.

“This was the first time that we were invited onto the paepae at Tuurangawaewae. So it leaves a legacy that King Tuheitia, while he has passed on, opened the door to reconnect Pacific people, Tagata o le Moana, with not only Tainui and the Kiingitanga but also Māori.”

The Pacific Leadership Forum was established a decade ago to promote unity and embrace the diversity of Pacific communities residing in Aotearoa. So when the late Kiingi Tuheitia extended the kotahitanga call to Pacific peoples, they were ready.

“We’ve had Sāmoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, Niue, Fiji, Tuvalu, Tokelau, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and that’s something special.”

“We are different in sizes, some communities are small and some are big. But the Pacific Leadership Forum is about no one is left behind and we respect everyone.”

Dausabea says engagements between Māori and Melanesian people go back hundreds of years and children today are products of that woven relationship.

“Because we are sort of a more recent arrival, it doesn’t mean that we haven’t been in connection with tangata whenua. A lot of us since the 1800s through the missionaries."

“Apart from that, a lot of our community members are married to the beautiful tāne and wāhine and so our kids now whakapapa to tangata whenua, Waikato Tainui.

“And if I speak for my own family - Ngapuhi," Dausabea says.

“The other thing is that it is really important to show solidarity with tangata whenua. We are here on their whenua at the goodwill of Māori and I think it is important as a community leader to support especially what Kiingi Tuheitia mentioned at Koroneihana - the concept of Kotahitanga.”

Matai from Savai'i, Sāmoa performed an āuala to prepare a safe passage for the soul of Kiingi Tuheitia. Photo/PMN News

Before Kiingi Tuheitia was buried on Taupiri Mountain in Ngāruawāhia, his youngest child and only daughter, Nga wai hono i te po, was ushered in as Te Arikinui Kuīni.

An incredibly special moment in modern-day Aotearoa and for the 27-year-old Māori monarch.

While the Kuīni is young and still in mourning, there is excitement and anticipation for how she will lead te ao Māori into the future.

Teleiai said during his whaikōrero (speech on the paepae) that they will keep their promise to always back Māori.

“We also pledged to the Kiingitanga that going forward and whoever the next heir to the throne is, Pacific people that reside in New Zealand will continue to support everything Māori.”

Dausabea echoed the chairman’s sentiment saying it is a deep connection because “we belong to the Pacific Ocean”.

“Each of us in our own professional space have connections to Tangata Whenua and for me particularly it is important that our younger generation not only maintain but also promote.

“I personally believe what is good for Tangata whenua is good for Moana Pasifika, or in our Vanuatu, PNG and Solomon community we would say, ‘Wan solwara’ - one ocean, one people."