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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. |
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.’
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.’
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.’
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.’