Hautoto, hautoto.

Ka tu heke ana, ka rongo heke ana ko te ngahau o tu.

Utaina taku kawa nei he kawa tua maunga, ka wiwini, ka wawana,

Tara patatu ki te rangi aue ki!

Whano, Whana, Haramai te toki,

Haumi e, hui e, taiki e!

E ngā mate o te tau, haere ki tō moengaroa e te pou ā Tā Tumu  moe mai, haere atu ra.

Ki te hunga ora, tēnei te mihi ki a kōutou. E Te Arikinui Kuini Ngawai-hono-i-te-po, i te marumaru o te korowai o Te Kootahitanga, tēnei te mihi ki a koe. Ki te Ariki hou o Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Rangimaheu Te Heuheu Tūkino IX, Tēnā Koe.

E ngā mana, e ngā reo, e ngā karangataha maha, tēnei te mihi.

Tēnei te pūrongo o ngā kaitiaki o Te Tau-a-Nuku me te rōpū matua o Ngā Aho.

Tēnā kōutou e te hāpori o Tuia Pito Ora.

The karakia above is associated to the launching of the Horouta waka (one of the great migratory waka) of the East Coast. It calls upon spiritual protection and ancestral strength to guide voyagers safely across the ocean. This is a reflection of our journey and where we are heading.

It is a pleasure to provide you all with an update on our kaupapa. We ended 2025 strong with our annual wānanga, leading into a busy start for 2026 for our whānau of Te Tau-a-Nuku (Māori Landscape Architects Rōpū) and Ngā Aho.

In mid-November, Te Tau-a-Nuku held their annual wānanga at Whareroa Marae, Tauranga Moana. As part of this wānanga we were fortunate to be joined by two of our wider iwi taketake  whānaunga (Indigenous family) from America and South America - Nathaniel Willing (Anishinaabe First Nations Ojibway) and Brenda Palacios Rodrigues (Qatanum, Awakatek/Mayan), both of whom are founding members of the Indigenous Collective Group. They bought their mātauranga to our wānanga to whakamana and support our shared  kaupapa.

Our wānanga was well attended by our kahui whetū, tuakana (professionals) and teina (tauira) from across Aotearoa. It was a time for us to redefine ourselves and reclaim our position as tangata whenua. It also strengthened our relationship with our Rōpū Matua – Ngā Aho, ensuring that our values are aligned under the MoU between Tuia Pito Ora and Ngā Aho, building and growing our capacity as Indigenous practitioners, creatives and storytellers and to strengthen our connections back to our people, back into our place.

It was here where Te Tau-a-Nuku  developed the following whakatauāki for our vision:

“Ka pū te rū hā, ka hā o ngā te ranga tahi; ka rū ana te whenua, ka rū ana te tangata.”

“As the earth draws in shaking breath, the breath of people rises as one; when the land quivers, so too are the people.”

We acknowledged all the mahi our kāhui whetu - Alan Titchener, and Diane Menzies, and Neil Challenger, and Phil Wihongi for the mahi they have done for Te Tau-a-Nuku over the years and their continued tautoko in all our kaupapa. We honour their whakaaro, leadership and guidance as it continues to shape and inspire the work we do today.

At our wānanga, we undertook our own internal review, understanding who we are, where we have come from and why we are doing this mahi. We have contributed to many various kaupapa over the years which has seen the growth of our knowledge and understanding of whenua and landscape architecture here in Aotearoa.

As we continue to develop our strategic plan, we have explored how we can support meaningfully to our wider whānui, ensuring our own members are supported, by being  culturally safe, competent and capable. Within Landscape architecture practice, kaupapa Māori is increasingly present in narratives, names, materiality, and planting palettes; while engagement with tangata whenua is becoming more common and being seen as contributory. We have had  success, but there remains more to do putting Aotearoa back into the country’s landscape and reconnecting ourselves back to whenua.

We continue to support Tuia Pito Ora across many spaces:

• Josephine Clarke is co-chair of Ngā Aho (Māori Designers Network) and growing the capacity of our wider whānui in our spaces, drawing on the threads of our Ngā Aho whānau;
• Rangitahi Kawe is  our māngai on the Tuia Pito Ora Board and has taken on the role as our kaitiaki for the 2026 Conference in Ōtautahi;
• We have reviewed the works of wider whānui to help us progress what our Aotearoa approach as landscape architects may be.
• Our Kāhui whetū continue to support in awhina roles across practice.
• Whare Timu (co-chair of Ngā Aho alongside Josephine Clarke) and Alayna Pakinui-Rā will support the biennial Resene NZILA Awards 2026 as judges;
• Supporting our future whanui into our spaces from our three whare wānanga building tuakana/teina;
• Supporting working groups –  Accreditation, Registration Review, Reform Submissions, Climate Action, ensuring that our unique Indigenous voices are understood, expressed and captured within our mahi;
• Establishing and maintaining our relationships with our Indigenous whanui from America, Australia under the wider umbrella of IFLA;

Nōreira,

Through partnership, Ngā Aho, Te Tau-a-Nuku and Tuia Pito Ora share:

Ka Rū Ka Hā | Awaken The Energy, speaking to the stirring of energy within us all; an awakening of breath, purpose, and collective momentum. It represents the spiritual momentum of Te Ao Māori and the awakening of energy of the new generation rising to take the lead.

We look forward to the year ahead and welcoming in Te Tau Hou Māori in a few months time.

Ngā mihi maioha:

Josephine Clarke (Co-Chair Ngā Aho)

Ashleigh Hunter (Co-Chair Te Tau-a-Nuku)

William Hatton (Co-Chair Te Tau-a-Nuku)