Liam Koka’ua
An in-depth guide to the maunga (mountains) of Rarotonga, their cultural and historical significance to Māori, and how the mountainous interior of the island has provided for its inhabitants over hundreds of years.Te Mekameka o te Pā Maunga preserves oral histories, ancestral knowledge, and people’s connection to their mountains. The maunga of Rarotonga feature heavily in cosmogony and stories of founding ancestors, this book is motivated by a desire to protect these rare ecosystems and their histories.KEY POINTS• Accounts from two tumu kōrero (oral historians), Maki ’uti Tongia and Mike Tavioni.• Early written accounts of maunga, either written by Māori, or sourced from Māori informants.• An assortment of ecological knowledge from both kite Māori (Indigenous knowledge) and Papa ’ā (European) scientific origins, considered by the author as relevant to the pā maunga of Rarotonga.• Observations of ecological changes happening within the interior of the island.• A decolonial text.
