The Rene Orchiston harakeke (flax) collection at the Whanganui Quaker Settlement. Photo / Phil Thomsen
The Rene Orchiston harakeke (flax) collection at the Whanganui Quaker Settlement. Photo / Phil Thomsen
Rene Orchiston of Gisborne started a harakeke (flax) collection in the 1950s, after observing that many fine craftswomen in her area were using inferior material for their weaving.
There was an extreme shortage of the special cultivars needed for several types of articles.
At that time, there wasless interest in flax weaving among younger folk.
Special flax bushes had been neglected and often removed during property or road developments.
Realising that in years to come, there was likely to be a revival of interest in traditional arts and crafts, Orchiston visited many marae and individuals on the east coast of the North Island and other parts of New Zealand, talking to elderly weavers and carefully recording information on names and uses of their special harakeke.
In 1987, Orchiston offered her collection to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) to form the cultural basis of a national collection of New Zealand flax.
When the DSIR was disbanded in 1992, Crown Research Institute Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research took over stewardship of the Orchiston Collection.
The collection is now growing at Manaaki Whenua, in Lincoln, Canterbury, as part of the national flax collection.
It is replicated on conservation land, at some marae, and in research and educational institutions.
In partnership with Māori weavers, Manaaki Whenua continues to research harakeke taxonomy and properties, and to add other cultivars to the national collection.
Most importantly, the collection is a resource base for weavers and other researchers.
Thirty-five years ago, in Whanganui, the Quaker Settlement managed to take ownership of 50 cultivars from the Rene Orchiston collection.
Weaver Sue Stevenson harvesting harakeke at the Quaker Settlement in Whanganui. Photo / Phil Thomsen
Planted in the shape of a koru, each cultivar has been numbered and named with a large wooden marker made by Michael Payne, one of the original residents of the Quaker Settlement and who still resides there with his wife Merilyn.
Merilyn Payne said, “On the day of the planting, just as the blessing was being performed, the rain came down, while the planting was being performed, a rainbow arched over all who were planting, and then as the planting was finished, the rain gently came down again”.
It was obvious that the harakeke was happy in its new surroundings at the Quaker Settlement.
Sue Stevenson (left), wearing an oven panel or tapeka, along with other students enrolled in the Kāwai Raupapa Certificate in Māori and Indigenous Arts at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. Photo / Alan Gibson, Alan Gibson Images Ltd.
Visitors to the collection learn that when different flax is stripped and dried, they produce varying colours, adding interest to the finished weaving.
Over the years, Merilyn Payne, her daughter Mandy, along with John Handley and plenty of willing helpers, have kept this collection at the Quaker settlement well-tended.
They have allowed various groups and well-known weavers to collect harakeke for their works.
Sue Stevenson harvesting harakeke at the Quaker Settlement for a new project. Photo / Phil Thomsen
It has been used for paper making and has even been chosen to be part of a cloak for a dignitary.
It takes a lot of time to keep the flax clean and free of invasive weeds, and the collection is thriving and well-loved.
While individual weavers have always looked after their own special flax bushes, many selected forms have been lost over the generations.
Only the vision and determination of a few people have ensured that the knowledge and plants that exist now are still available as a resource for today’s weavers.
Orchiston is one such person.
Learn more about the Rene Orchiston Collection and individual cultivars here.
Thank you to Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd/ Scheele for generously sharing some of this information.
