A waka hourua for Tairāwhiti looks set to sail into uncharted legal waters

Waka Voyaging Trust - Owen Lloyd, Richard Katipa with moko Peneti Katipa 6, Stan Pardoe, Te Atarangi Nepia-Clamp, Papa Rau, David McClutchie. Absent: Debra McClutchie. Photo / Liam Clayton

Those who turned the dream of having a waka hourua for Tairāwhiti into a reality are threatening to take the trust which owns the waka to the High Court, claiming it is not operating in accordance with its deed.

This comes after almost three years of ongoing requests from Te Aturangi Nepia-Clamp and Owen Lloyd — who helped get the waka for the region — to board it and provide their services as kaitiaki (guardians).

Waka hourua owners Tairāwhiti Voyaging Trust (TVT) did not comment specifically, but in an email to the Gisborne Herald said it had clear strategic directions and long-term goals and operated consistently towards those.

Getting a waka for the region was a long-term goal for Nepia-Clamp and Lloyd who established Tūranganui a Kiwa Voyaging Trust in 1997.

The trust had two main projects — the organisation, promotion and management of the millennium waka dawn ceremony in 2000; and securing a waka hourua for the people of Te Tairāwhiti.

The waka dawn event featured 22 waka from around Aotearoa and the Pacific.

“Given the outstanding success of the waka dawn event, I thought it would be a good time to secure a waka hourua for the region, but it turned out that it wasn’t the right time so I decided to spend more time around the Pacific researching the most appropriate waka hourua design for Te Tairāwhiti,” said Nepia-Clamp, who has more than 40 years of involvement in waka horua projects.

The Waka Voyaging Trust. Photo / Supplied

In 1992, he was selected to represent Te Tairāwhiti on the voyage of the Sir Hector Busby-built waka Te Aurere. It was the first waka hourua to sail back to Rarotonga in 700 years, retracing the voyage of the Polynesian ancestors who settled in Aotearoa.

Nepia-Clamp was invited to return and spend time learning from renowned navigator Sir Thomas Davis about Polynesian-style waka.

He ended up living there for 10 years and becoming vice-president of the Cook Islands Voyaging Society (CIVS) under Ian Karika, who remains the CIVS president.

While in Rarotonga, Karika and Nepia-Clamp were approached by a philanthropist from Okeanos Foundation for the Sea who commissioned them to build a fleet of seven double-hulled voyaging canoes (waka hourua).

These waka sailed from Auckland to a variety of Pacific destinations on a year-long adventure totalling over 30,000 nautical miles and promoting sustainable sea transportation.

At the completion of the voyage, each waka was distributed to Pacific Island and Aotearoa participants.

Nepia-Clamp returned to Gisborne in 2011 to pursue a mission of securing a waka hourua for Te Tairāwhiti, a dream he had while carving the Tauihu canoe prow (in 1990) that is located beside the courthouse in Heipipi/Endeavour Park. He and Lloyd relaunched the Tūranganui A Kiwa Voyaging Trust with new trustees and a refreshed deed to include the whole of Tairāwhiti, hence its renaming to Tairāwhiti Voyaging Trust (TVT).

TVT applied for and received funding from donors to build the Tairāwhiti Waka and offer it as an authentic Māori-led kaupapa for all people of the region.

Nepia-Clamp was the TVT chief executive and Lloyd chairman.

Nepia-Clamp was appointed to manage the build of the waka which was made by Salthouse Boatbuilders in Greenhithe, Auckland in 2016/17.

It was launched with a karakia and blessing by Mark Kopua and Sir Hekenukumai Busby.

Sir Hekenukumai Busby puts the finishing touches to his second waka hourua, Ngāhiraka Mai Tawhiti, in 2008. Photo / Richard Robinson

The waka arrived in Gisborne on Christmas Eve 2017. During 2018/19 it was used for a variety of activities such as education, tourism, day charters, storytelling, volunteering and maintenance programmes.

In 2020, Nepia-Clamp and Lloyd left TVT because they believed it was not operating in accordance to its trust deed — creating an unsafe, unauthentic cultural environment for waka programmes and participants.

“When TVT overlooked qualified, experienced and culturally knowledgeable Māori skippers and crew and appointed non-Māori skippers to crew and manage the waka, we disagreed and left TVT.

“We originally created the trust to uplift and empower Māori by connecting to their proud voyaging ancestry, while sharing our Tairāwhiti Waka with non-Māori — not to undermine them,” Nepia-Clamp said.

Since leaving, they joined with a Māori voluntary crew who include Richard Katipa — a qualified experienced skipper fluent in te reo; Dave McClutchie — a chief engineer and sailor; Debs McClutchie — a teacher and sailor; and Gordon Aston — a qualified skipper and waka ama veteran.

Together they created their own trust, Waka Voyaging Trust (WVT).

They have been offering TVT their services in a volunteer role but TVT have not accepted these offers or allowed WVT to share the waka when TVT are not using it.

WVT have been meeting regularly at kaumatua Ralph Walker’s whare for the past three years to progress their voyaging plans, but not having use of a waka hourua has made this difficult .

People in the public still see Nepia-Clamp and other members of WVT as part of the Tairāwhiti Waka.

Nepia-Clamp says people often approach him and other members to take people out on the waka, but they have to explain that the volunteer Māori crew are not allowed on the waka that they helped create and used to maintain and sail.

When people hear this they don’t believe what has happened and want to help get the Maori volunteer crew back on their waka, he says.

“We feel the funders may be disappointed with this because the whole kaupapa for the funding was for it to be widely used by the people of Tairāwhiti,” Nepia-Clamp said.

An excess of $1 million was raised to secure the waka.

Although TVT are seen as technical owners of the waka, WVT consider themselves to be kaitiaki (guardians) and say they would welcome the opportunity to do maintenance on the waka.

“We have been wanting to meet with TVT as a board-to-board meeting but they are ignoring our requests and we are now at the stage where enough is enough,” Lloyd said.

“At times they have replied to decline our requests and offers, or they simply ignore us.

“What do you do? Where do we go? They ignore us and only reply when they absolutely have to.”

With TVT refusing to meet with them or come to an arrangement to share the waka, WVT engaged a specialist law firm from Auckland to look into whether TVT was operating in accordance with their trust deed.

The law firm came back with the opinion that TVT was not complying in a number of key areas and recommended WVT take them to the High Court.

WVT told the Gisborne Herald they did not wish to take TVT to the High Court. They would rather have a kanohi ki te kanohi (face-to-face) meeting and settle the issue in a culturally appropriate manner.

They told the Gisborne Herald they welcomed the opportunity to settle this kaupapa through mediation with TVT.

“It hurts us all deeply to not be allowed on our waka or to be sailing it.”

In response to emails and requests for an interview, TVT said: “Tairāwhiti Waka is achieving the outcomes and expectations of its major stakeholders and funders, through the implementation of a clear strategy and commitment to our core priorities.

“The programmes, events and opportunities to support voyages on board Tairāwhiti Waka offer a variety of ways to experience, contribute and connect to kaupapa waka hourua. The board of Tairāwhiti Voyaging Trust is responsible for determining how best to achieve its goals, and deciding the current priorities for the organisation.

“Tairāwhiti Waka has established partnerships, such as Te Hau Komaru the national waka hourua collective, that strengthen our organisation and build the capacity and capability of our people, to create a solid foundation for Tairāwhiti Waka, and a strong and supportive network of waka hourua throughout Aotearoa.”