Remembering Wai-Horotiu: microhistory, public art, and Indigenous environmental justice in Tāmaki Makaurau
Few people walking along Queen Street in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, realise they are treading above Wai-Horotiu, a historically significant stream now buried beneath the urban landscape. In this paper, I examine how Wai-Horotiu, once vital to the socio-cultural and ecological well-being of mana whenu...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2025-10-01
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| Series: | Kōtuitui |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/1177083X.2025.2510600 |
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| Summary: | Few people walking along Queen Street in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, realise they are treading above Wai-Horotiu, a historically significant stream now buried beneath the urban landscape. In this paper, I examine how Wai-Horotiu, once vital to the socio-cultural and ecological well-being of mana whenua, was systematically canalised, polluted, and ultimately hidden underground through settler colonial interventions. Drawing on settler colonial theory and Indigenous environmental justice frameworks, I adopt a microhistory approach to reveal how these processes deliberately disrupted Māori relationships with their ancestral waterscapes and resulted in enduring ecological and social impacts. The story of Wai-Horotiu illustrates broader patterns of ecological and cultural erasure characteristic of colonial water governance practices, both locally and globally. Additionally, I explore recent artistic and nature-based restoration efforts, including stream daylighting initiatives, which actively challenge colonial narratives, reaffirm Māori presence, and provide hopeful pathways toward restoring reciprocal tangata-wai (people-water) relationships and achieving environmental justice in contemporary urban spaces. |
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| ISSN: | 1177-083X |