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To mark Matariki NZ On Screen has today launched a special collection of iconic Māori television and films.
The collection has been curated by NZ On Screen’s Māori Content Curator Whai Ngata, the former Head of TVNZ Māori Programmes.
Ngata says it was a pleasure and a privilege to curate the Matariki collection. “As someone who has been heavily involved in Māori broadcasting through the years, I really appreciated the opportunity to work on a project celebrating achievement in this area.”
In making his choices for the collection, Ngata considered the significance of programmes in terms of both Māori social history and the development of Māori broadcasting, as well as the quality of the title itself.
“The titles I have chosen should not be seen in any order of merit, and the list does not detract in any way from the importance of and enjoyment given by many other programmes.”
The titles in the Matariki collection include the early 1970s documentary series Tangata Whenua, made by Michael King, Barry Barclay and John O’Shea, and acknowledged as the first time Pākehā television viewers got a significant window into the Māori world. Also from the 1970s, is episode one of the landmark drama series The Governor, which gave a then rare Māori perspective on our colonial history.
The long-running TVNZ Māori Programmes’ productions Koha, Te Karere, Waka Huia, and Marae also feature in the collection, as does TVNZ’s coverage of the Te Maori exhibition and Te Arikinui, Dame Te Atairangikaahu the Māori Queen’s Tangi.
Ngata acknowledges the talent of Māori entertainers on television, by including the work of Billy T James in his collection. He also includes the Māori biography series Pounamu, and the drama series Mataku, which told Māori supernatural stories.
The acclaimed New Zealand movies Ngati and Once Were Warriors are also in the collection. Ngata says of Warriors: “this movie has to be included for highlighting the problem of domestic violence, not only among Māori, but all societies. It gave a very strong message of the huge problem that transcends race and social status.”
The first episode (Tangata Whenua: Waikato) of Michael King and Barry Barclay’s landmark 1970s Māori documentary series “Tangata Whenua – The People of the Land” is now available on NZ On Screen.
NZ On Screen Content Director Irene Gardiner says Tangata Whenua is one of the most significant titles to be added to the website so far.
“We’ve been working on clearing it for some time. These six documentaries about Māori life and culture were absolutely ground-breaking at the time they first screened, and the series remains significant and relevant.”
“The production team behind the documentary series was just extraordinary. Michael King was the researcher, writer and interviewer, Barry Barclay was the director, and John O’Shea was the producer. The fact that we have since lost all three of these legendary figures adds even greater poignance to Tangata Whenua’s re-emergence into the public domain.”
Tangata Whenua won a Feltex Television Award for its script and was praised in the NZBC’s 1975 annual report as having “possibly done more towards helping the European understand the Māori people, their traditions and way of life, than anything else previously shown on television”.
The series first screened on Sunday evenings in late 1974. Around a million viewers watched the documentaries, with Pākehā viewers getting a window into a Māori world still foreign to many New Zealanders at that time. Gardiner says one of the notable features of the series was the close access Barclay, King and their crew were able to get to their subjects. “There was a real generosity shown to the production crew by the people they were filming.”
NZ On Screen Māori Content Adviser Whai Ngata said Tangata Whenua was a hugely important series when it screened in 1974, but it had also stood the test of time. “At the time, the series was a real break-through in getting Pākehā New Zealanders to see and understand the Māori world. But more than 30 years later, the documentaries work as important historical pieces.”
In his book Being Pakeha Now, Michael King wrote that Tangata Whenua broke the “mono-cultural” mould of New Zealand television.
“It gave Māori an opportunity to speak for themselves about their lives. It went some way towards informing Pākehā New Zealanders about Māori attitudes and values, it whetted a Māori audience’s appetite for more documentaries reflecting Maori viewpoints, and it opened the way for later programmes, such as Koha and Te Karere, produced by Māori.”
The first Tangata Whenua documentary on the NZ On Screen website is the Waikato episode. This episode looks at the Kingitanga (King Movement), illustrating why a movement formed in the 19th century to halt land sales and promote Māori authority has contemporary relevance. Other episodes will be added throughout the year.
