Radio Te Upoko o te Ika: archived, digitised and broadcast to the world

The Team from Alexander Turnbull Library

Te wiki o te reo Māori - Māori language week
Piripi Walker(broadcaster and writer), Richard McIntosh (National Library Learning Team) and Tāina McGregor (Oral Historian Māori) discuss how and why Te Upoko o te Ika archive came to be part of the Alexander Turnbull Collection, the diversity of material, making the recordings publically accessible and the value of this and other Māori aural collections.
Significant and example recordings will be played during the presentation.

Free event (no booking required)
Tuesday 11 September 2018
Te Ahumairangi (ground floor), National Library, corner Molesworth and Aitken Streets

Reel-to-reel, cassettes, floppy disks, digital audio tape, CDs, you name it – the life of O Te Upoko O Te Ika radio station was preserved on all manner of formats. In 2007, Te Reo Irirangi O Te Upoko O Te Ika Trust donated over two thousand of these interviews recorded between 1982-1995, to become one of the Alexander Turnbull Library’s biggest collections: Te Upoko O Te Ika Sound Recordings: Ref: OHColl-0937
Hundreds of these interviews were conducted and broadcast in the interviewees’ first language, Te Reo. The voices of Radio Te Upoko O Te Ika are a storehouse of politics and culture unique to Aotearoa New Zealand and a treasure illuminating the depth and diversity of Te Reo Māori.

In 2015, the Te Reo Irirangi o Te Upoko o Te Ika Trust and the Alexander Turnbull Library began working to make this archive of music and conversational and formal Māori language recordings available to the public online and on its ground floor audio pods.

Thanks to the vision and tireless effort of Piripi Walker and the Trustees and staff of Te Reo Irirangi o Te Ūpoko o Te Ika Trust, National Library’s Richard McIntosh and the staff of Digital New Zealand and the Alexander Turnbull Library the collection continues to be digitised and remastered for full public access.

Speakers:
Veteran Māori broadcaster Piripi Walker managed Te Upoko o te Ika Radio Station for its first three years (1987 – 1991) and was a Māori negotiator for the Māori Broadcasting Treaty Claims.

Richard McIntosh is part of the Kaiārahi and Learning teams in Public Programmes (National Library) focussing on He Tohu and Treaty education. His interest in the ‘revolutionary’ potential for learners of our national language drove his determination to initiate and lead the public access project.
As Alexander Turnbull Library’s Oral Historian Māori in Outreach Services Tāina McGregor travels the country meeting with iwi to discuss their collections. Her role entails providing iwi with oral history workshops and invaluable support to record and preserve their tāonga. Tāina worked closely with Piripi and the Te Reo Irirangi o Te Ūpoko o Te Ika Trust to bring the archive into the ATL Collection.

Images: Photograph of third birthday of Te Upoko o Te Ika radio station, April 17 1991. Ref: PAColl-8124. People in photo, left to right: Mike Wills, Donald (Donny) Kingi, Henare Kingi, Piripi Walker, Erana Hemmingsen (obscured), Mere Grant (standing), Lucy Te Moana (kneeling), Hirini Melbourne (visiting for birthday), Philip (Pip) Saffery, Henare Hetaraka (standing) Piripi Whaanga (kneeling) Murray Raihania, Kevin Hodges, Aunty Iris Te Ari Whaanga (sitting), Mahia Fuimaono (kneeling), Huirangi Waikerepuru.

Hinehou (l) and Hinekorangi (r) Broughton, pictured with Richard McIntosh, at launch of oral histories to AV pods 25 July 2014. They are listening to their father, Ruka Broughton, of radio Te Upoko O Te Ika, interviewing them as young children. Photo: Mark Beatty.