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Hero image for Great New Zealand River Journeys: The Whanganui River with Sam Hunt

Great New Zealand River Journeys: The Whanganui River with Sam Hunt

Television (Full Length Episode) – 1992

Every bend and rapid of the river has a guardian, or kaitiaki, who maintains the mauri (life force) of that stretch of the river. Whanganui hapū (sub-tribes) were renowned for their canoeing skills and maintained extensive networks of weirs and fishing traps along the river until the arrival of riverboats forced changes to customary practices.
– Excerpt from a history of the Whanganui River, Department of Conservation website
Jock hasn't and won't let its history be forgotten; he hasn't and won't let his river die. He's the archetypal saviour of our heritage, with his lovely and unerring feel for what I call the cosmic of the commonplace.
– Poet Sam Hunt paints a vivid picture of local historian Jock Erceg
Years ago the river was full of fish...as far as I'm concerned we've seen the good days and I call this the bad days now.
– Local fisherman Mick describes the decline in fish on the Whanganui River since the 1950s and 60s
There's no journey or destination with out a beginning, no river without a source. And this is where the Whanganui River begins its course, a trickle high up in the Western slopes of Mount Tongariro.
– Presenter Sam Hunt begins his journey at the source of the Whanganui River
A man can only find himself lost, such country as this where all men are lonely, plateau, river valley, hawk, country where a man at last might lose himself at end of talk, find that gaunt faced other man who stalks these ridges, plateaus, river valleys, hawk...
– Sam Hunt breaks into a poem as he reaches the steep mid cliffs of the Whanganui River
The river for us is like a mother. It feeds us. And if we respect the river it looks after us.
– Farmer and eel fisher Tommy Trainer's te ao Māori perspective on the Whanganui River
When the New Zealand parliament passed the Te Awa Tupua Act granting the Whanganui River system legal personhood, the decision sent waves across the globe, settling the longest water dispute in the nation’s history and establishing a unique legal framework rooted in the Māori worldview of the Whanganui tribes, who revere the river as a tupuna, or ancestor. The law begins by recognising the river as an indivisible and living being called Te Awa Tupua and outlines four core principles from the tribes’ perspective, including their inalienable connection to the river. Then, it states this being “has all the rights, powers, duties and liabilities of a legal person”.
– Writer Jeremy Lurgio on the unique legal status of the Whanganui River, The Guardian, 29 November 2019