![\"Teachers](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/teachers-and-students-from-dannevirke-gather-at-makirikiri-m-ETAFSZB6BBHSZNIHHGW4EGAJY4.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA Tararua iwi has launched a set of bilingual books retelling the journey of their ancestor from Hawaiki to Aotearoa, as part of Te Wiki o te Reo M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n
Copies of Wh\u0101tonga: In Search of Man were gifted by Te Whare Taiao o Rangit\u0101ne to local schools, where they would be a local addition to the New Zealand History Curriculum.<\/p>\n
M\u0101kirikiri Marae in Dannevirke was full of students and teachers on Wednesday there to listen to the story of Wh\u0101tonga and his journey to New Zealand in search of Toi – his grandfather.<\/p>\n
Author and Rangit\u0101ne iwi historian Dr Manahi Paewai said in the generations following his arrival in New Zealand, the descendants of Wh\u0101tonga spread across the country and now lived across Manawat\u016b, Wairarapa, the top of the South Island and beyond.<\/p>\n
“T\u014d m\u0101tau o te kainga hiahia te whakanui nei i t\u0113r\u0101 k\u014drero nei m\u0101 te tuhi i te pukapuka… te k\u014drero nei a Toi m\u014d Wh\u0101tonga nei me t\u014dna rapu nei i t\u014dna t\u016bpuna te take o t\u014dna haerenga maitanga ki Aotearoa (We wanted to celebrate that story by launching this book retelling the story of Wh\u0101tonga and Toi and how they arrived in Aotearoa).”<\/p>\n
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Teachers and students from Dannevirke gather at M\u0101kirikiri Marae for the launch of Wh\u0101tonga: In Search of Man (Source: rnz.co.nz)<\/p>\n
Paewai said during a waka race in Hawaiki, Wh\u0101tonga was blown off course and lost in a storm. When he managed to return home he found that his grandfather Toi had left in search of him so Wh\u0101tonga prepared his waka Kurahaup\u014d to follow him to Aotearoa.<\/p>\n
“Ko t\u0113nei m\u0101tau e hiahia ana te tuku te whakakoha i t\u0113nei k\u014drero nei ki \u0101 m\u0101tau o te kainga nei, ng\u0101 uri o Wh\u0101tonga, heoi an\u014d ka tika he mea m\u014d te motu nei kia mohiotia, kia p\u0101nuitia (We wanted to gift this story to our own people the descendants of Wh\u0101tonga, but it’s for everyone to learn about, to read about).”<\/p>\n
The books also came with a teachers’ guide to help integrate it into the classroom under the new history curriculum.<\/p>\n
Project lead Shannon Story said they worked with two mainstream teachers to create the resources.<\/p>\n
“The teachers’ guide was created to help support teachers with the implementation of the stories into schools, it includes m\u0101tauranga M\u0101ori around navigation voyaging and waka, as well as lesson plans, values, whakatauki.”<\/p>\n
![\"Project](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/shannon-story-ZWL6XHYDP5GQ7FK65IDIBYX2PA.jpg\")
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Project lead Shannon Story with a carving of Wh\u0101tonga behind her (Source: rnz.co.nz)<\/p>\n
Dannevirke South School teacher Destiny Greatbatch said it was amazing to be welcomed in to the marae for the book launch.<\/p>\n
“We have so many of our children who just come alive when they learn about who they are and the history of our local iwi and things like that, but one of the problems that we’ve had is with the Aotearoa\/New Zealand histories, we don’t always know the information and things that have happened in our area, so to have people that know and that are gifting this to us, this knowledge that we can pass on to our children is really, really exciting.<\/p>\n
“[It] makes such a difference to their schooling when they can learn about something they really care about and that’s going to help us to reach so many of our children and to get them excited about who we are and where we’re from.”<\/p>\n
Greatbatch said the school had been working closely with Rangit\u0101ne to build up its knowledge and use of tikanga.<\/p>\n
It had made such a difference to student’s sense of belonging and it was amazing to visit the marae and be welcomed in, she said.<\/p>\n
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(Source: rnz.co.nz)<\/p>\n
Kobe and Cresha, two students from Te Kura Kaupapa M\u0101ori o Tamaki Nui a Rua, were excited to start reading and learning more about Wh\u0101tonga.<\/p>\n
“He harikoa, he h\u012bkaka kia whai w\u0101 ki te p\u0101nui i te pukapuka hou (I’m excited to find time to read the new book),” Kobe said.<\/p>\n
“He \u0101taahua te pikitia (The pictures are beautiful),” Cresha added.<\/p>\n
Translator Te Riaki Tamasese said many iwi members were in mainstream schools so it was important they had resources to learn about their ancestors as well.<\/p>\n
“T\u0113nei m\u0101tau o te Whare Taiao o Rangit\u0101ne e whakaaro ki \u014d t\u0101tau uri e kuraina ana ki ng\u0101 kura auraki, ehara i te mea kei te kura kaupapa M\u0101ori anake \u014d m\u0101tau uri (Te Whare Taiao o Rangit\u0101ne were thinking about our descendants learning in mainstream schools [when we wrote this book], the descendants of Wh\u0101tonga are not just in Kura Kaupapa M\u0101ori).”<\/p>\n
Tamasese said there were plans for future books in the works focussing on other iwi stories with the Wh\u0101tonga books acting as a pilot program.<\/p>\n
The books would be available to buy online from Te Whare Taiao o Rangit\u0101ne in the weeks to come, he said.<\/p>\n