Trees feature heavily in this week’s blog. Perhaps it is because the first part of the week was spent planting new trees where the studio-on-the-hill is nearly complete, perhaps it is because of the less-than-judicious pruning and cutting out of invasive trees on the land, or perhaps it is just the zeitgeist. Whatever it is, the week has been filled with them.
As a finale to the week we visited the Arahura Marae. The marae is beautiful. Contemporary designed buildings (whare in Maori) sit high above the seaside road, amongst native bush and lawns, overlooking a spectacular view towards the ocean. Inside the main whare, stencilled bird silhouettes, white on black, stalk across the walls, carved pillars of the ancestry of the area decorate the walls, and rafters, also carved and backlit with ever-changing colours, hold up the ceiling. There are beautiful tukutuku panels that represent the journey from the East to the West Coast, complete with stars and mountains, each relating to a specific historical time in the journey that the travelling groups took to reach Arahura. Every one of these elements tells stories of the people who come from this area and we learned about the genealogy and background from one of the descendants whose ancestors are portrayed. It is fascinating to understand a little of how Maori history is passed on and on through craft, art, music and oration for new generations to learn about themselves in this special place: a repository of knowledge.
After some time on the marae we got chatting to someone who was helping out at the open day, and learned that there was once a society in this area called Men of the Trees. This group was established by a relative but it turns out the history of the movement has African roots.
Richard St. Barbe Baker, who lived and worked in East Africa as a forest officer in colonial Kenya, started Men of the Trees in 1922 as a way to get local people to understand the importance of woodland and forests. Returning to England, Mr Baker set up the group as an association and it still exists with branches in Australia, India and, of course, Aotearoa New Zealand. It has been an influential organisation in terms of conservation and has influenced the ways in which we view and look after the natural world around us. You can read more about Mr St. Barbe Baker here and watch a video about him here.
So, it would seem, trees are the subject of the moment, especially important as the world loses forests, woodland and jungle.
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