Ngā Whetū o te Tau: Tipuārangi - Tony McColgan

As the Māori new year dawns upon us, Te Karere brings together those representing the best of our kāhui whetū, Matariki.

Today we look at Tony McColgan, a descendant of a long line of South Island tītī (muttonbird) hunters, representing Tipuārangi.

"E tū Tipuārangi

Ko te pōkai tara

Ngahoro pua, manu whaturua

Kia puta ko te ora o Tāne

Koia!

Behold Tipuārangi

Of the flocking birds

Fruiting trees and fat birds

Reveal the bounty of Tāne

Indeed!"

Tony McColgan (Ngāi Tahu) works his day job at KiwiRail as a rail protection officer, ensuring that contractors working on the railroads get to do their job safely.

He’s a hard worker, a quick thinker – always on call just in case there's a health and safety emergency on the job.

"I have to get them on and off the track to allow the trains to go through… Trains always have to run on time, so they take precedence over the work that’s going on on the track," McColgan said.

However, as much as he loves his job on the rail lines, he also has a much bigger passion.

His love for muttonbird hunting runs deep within his own bloodline. For generations, Ngāi Tahu Māori have been capturing this delicacy from a group of islands just off Rakiura / Stewart Island. This unique hunting culture is exclusive to Ngāi Tahu and Rakiura Māori hapū since the signing of the 1864 Rakiura Deed Cession, which gave Rakiura Māori access to the islands when it comes to hunting tītī.

McColgan is a descendant of these tīpuna. Therefore, he has a right to hunt the birds that populate the islands.

Hunting season officially starts from April 1 until May 31, but for McColgan and other tītī hunters alike, preparations begin much earlier.

"The actual logistics of getting yourself down there is nothing compared with the logistics of getting all your gear down and back.

"There’s no shops or anything down there, so you got to have everything prepped and ready to go."

Although on the map the islands are around 80kms away from the mainland, McColgan says the journey is dangerous, with a boat ride through the rough waters of the Foveaux Strait taking anywhere between three to 12 hours.

But now the journey is made much easier, thanks to a 40-minute helicopter ride.

"Back in the day, you were considered a bit of a p***y if you went on the helicopter because all of our people that had gone before us sort of… they had to go through a lot more than we did to get down there," he explained.

Once McColgan settles on the island, the work begins. Much of his mahi involves a deep understanding of the māramataka Māori (Māori lunar calendar), and different weather patterns which predict whether the birds will come out of their burrows.

"If you’ve got a moon out, they won’t come out… If it’s dark and stormy, then you get a lot more," he said.

"The moon sort of plays a bigger part in it, and I'm sure if we went back in time and had the knowledge of the old people, their references would be more around the cycles of not just the moon but the other planets and seasons as well."

With the recent change of weather patterns here in Aotearoa making this year's season an unusual one ahead of Matariki, McColgan makes his wish to Hiwa-i-te-rangi for a successful season – closely analysing the weather patterns, as well as other factors within the natural environment.

"That traditional knowledge of how the moons and planets sort of align, it’s quite useful to predict what the following season is gonna be."