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RIVERS New Zealand’s shared legacy
recognises the importance of our rivers in all their power, tranquillity and fragility. Rivers are intrinsic to the New Zealand psyche as well as its dynamic landscape. Celebrating, promoting and protecting them go hand-in-hand. The book shows how rivers represent constancy, connect us to a Polynesian and a European past as well as to futures as yet unlived. In the now of an era of speed and greed, rivers remind us that slow-time, long-term decisions must be given space in our deliberations about whether and how engage with nature. We cannot take our rivers for granted. We draw upon them for everything from life itself to sustaining our economic well-being to recreational use. Rivers provide inspiration and contemplation; they also reflect liberties taken, assumptions made. Inscribed in the memory of water too can be the expression of collective wisdom - of precaution and care and katitakitanga that will best serve both land and people. The decisions we each make, in a myriad of ways in regard to rivers, are a function of the quality not only of our environment but also the equally precious and fragile democracy we inhabit. Footnote: Definition of Kaitiakitanga means guardianship and protection. It is a way of managing the environment, based on the Māori world view. |
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TVNZ/Listener 1986 Published with the assistance of the New Zealand Hydrological Society (Wellington, NZ) ISBN 0908690142 (hbk) Photos by Bruce Foster |
FACES OF THE RIVER is a celebration of New Zealand’s rivers in all their aspects but especially the human one. This book is a New Zealand historical geography, which explores a wide range of rivers – from the wild to the dammed.
‘The ancient maps of this land are shimmering... In contemplating a river’s flow or it’s meander, in listening to its murmur, one may come to hear the heartbeat of the land … most vitally we require the wisdom to recognize that, as with all living things on this planet, their well-being is our own.’ The chapters: Whanganui Waters of life Hakataramea-Ahuriri A dream of hope Waipaoa-Motu Savaged River, Ravaged Land Buller Riding the big one Waikato Every Bend a power Station Taramakau Turning the River in its Grave Manawatu Contrariness and Control Rakaia Fishing versus Farming Rangitikei The river as Barrier Clutha The end of the Golden River |
A review by Gordon Webley
Although a pakeha the author, through this work, confirms his enormous stature and thus remains one of the more influential in Aotearoa. This is in part due to the fact that this work palpably demonstrates huge respect for the mana and the maui of the tangata awa - the people of the river. Highly recommended reading, not only for the stories of the Whanganui, but also - albeit less directly - for the rest of the country.Get it read it treasure it and give it away to someone else to read. Then get another and start this cycle again because this book deserves multiple readings. Like all great books, this one belongs in a reader's hand and not on some dusty bookshelf. |
Eddie Durie, former Chief Judge, Maori Land Court, writes in the forward :
’Faces of the River is an invitation to confront ourselves. The river teaches us where we have been, where we are now, and
where we might be going. This book, which I commend to all who love New Zealand, follows the instruction of the river.’
’Faces of the River is an invitation to confront ourselves. The river teaches us where we have been, where we are now, and
where we might be going. This book, which I commend to all who love New Zealand, follows the instruction of the river.’