29/06/2023
Puanga ki Ruapehu 2-day SMART Dome Wananga
At the recent two-day SMART Dome wananga at Raetihi Marae, we had the absolute privilege to learn Māori,astronomy - Puanga/Matarki and Maramataka and Taiao), the understanding the movements of the sky including the SMART DOME and perhaps discovering some new astronomy star experts from our community or our incredible local kura, Raetihi Primary School, Ohakune Primary School, Orautoha School, Te Kura Maori o Ngati Rangi, Nancy Winter Centre, National Park Primary School and Ngamorehu o Uenuku Kohanga Reo
We were taught by an incredibly SMART team from Massey University. To say that we have experienced something new and out of this world is impossible to quantify.
The expert SMART team is exceptionally intelligent and knowledgeable. We were extremely lucky to have them with us for 2 days, sharing their mātauranga Māori, and interacting with our community and kura. Their profiles speak for themselves.
Dr Hemi Whaanga (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tahu, Ngāti Mamoe, Waitaha) is a professor and Head of School, Te Putahi-a-Toi at Massey University. he also is a linguist who has more than 20 years’ experience as a Māori educator focused on linguistics, te reo Māori, mātauranga Māori, Māori astronomy, ICT and ethics. He has a particular interest in multi-method techniques, methodologies, and processes that analyze, develop, and protect our mātauranga and reo in a range of linguistic, cultural, and digital contexts. He has worked as a project leader and researcher on a range of projects, including curriculum development, AI and VR, ICT and digital repositories, ethics and digitization, technology, taxonomy and naming, and Māori astronomy.
Associate Professor Pauline Harris is from the tribes of Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Rakaipaaka and Ngāti Kahungunu. She is a lecturer at Te Pūtahi a Toi, School of Māori Knowledge at Massey University. Dr Harris is an astrophysicist who has specialized in high energy neutrino production and inflationary cosmology. Dr Harris’s research currently focuses on mātauranga Māori associated with Māori astronomy; Māori calendars called maramataka as well as climate change. Currently, Dr Harris is the Chairperson of the Society for Māori Astronomy Research and Traditions (SMART). She is also Deputy Director Māori for the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology and the Vision Matauranga theme leader for the Science for Technological Innovation National Science Challenge. As part of Dr Harris’s role in Matariki she was part of the Matariki Advisory Committee that established the Matariki public holiday.
Ockie Simmonds is a tribal researcher from Raukawa, Tūwharetoa and Ngā Puhi iwi whānui. Born in 1951, when his Raukawa people in the South Waikato still used the traditional Māori lunar calendar, the maramataka, for pastoral and business activity. He has a broad understanding of his tribal whakapapa (genealogy) and astronomy. His promotion of the Māori night sky is legendary with his whānau. Vocationally, he specialized in Civil Aviation engineering and during the 1980s installed weather radar systems in Aotearoa and the Pacific and worked in other core government departments. Over the past decade Ockie has worked closely with astronomical experts in Japan who used archaeo-astronomical techniques, based on traditional Māori korero, to identify the Gregorian arrival dates of the Tainui and Te Arawa waka to Aotearoa as part of a ‘Great Fleet’ in the summer of 1408 CE. Ockie is a strong advocate and passionate about mataurangā Māori, traditional calendars, and knowledge systems being validated by current scientific techniques.
Kaiwhakahaere extraordinaire Kristy Powell is their boss. She is able to coordinate their calendars and schedules. She designed the program and organized resources for them to deliver it. She recently became a new business owner and set up her business in the Levin region. She continues to support the SMART team with all their kaupapa because she can.
Puanga ki Ruapehu is totally overwhelmed by great support from behind the scenes, and we would like to thank those in the kitchen who fed us all and adapted to changes. Koro Robbie, thank you for holding the paepae and supporting us during this kaupapa. We are so glad that you all had the experience of being in the SMART dome.
We from Puanga ki Ruapehu and the SMART team will bring the SMART dome back to our region for all our local kura. So, watch this space.
