Vol. 131 No. 1 (2022): March 2022

On 7 February 2004, the day after Waitangi Day, Joan Metge (right) joined members of the Māori community of Ahipara and a large and diverse crowd of visitors attending a daytime gathering hosted by Te Rarawa and Te Aupōuri iwi on the Ahipara foreshore of Te Oneroa-a-Tōhē (Ninety Mile Beach). The highlight of this gathering was a ceremony in which the iwi kāinga ‘homefolks’ and visitors joined in holding a taura whiri ‘woven rope’ stretching northwards for two kilometres from Ahipara. In this ceremony Te Rarawa and Te Aupōuri affirmed their customary rights in relation to Te Oneroa-a-Tōhē and declared that these rights included sharing the seaside and its resources with others, not denying them access. Photograph by John Miller.