A Northland storytelling project is collecting narratives of how people from different ethnic and migrant backgrounds connect to Whangārei.

Landing in Whangārei is a storytelling project to provide outlets and opportunities for people who have
different cultural experiences other than the typical Māori and Pakeha cultures of Northland.

Organiser Ren Lunicke wants to share their sense of being in Whangārei and their relationship with the town since they arrived.

Lunicke partnered with Multicultural Whangārei, Zir Productions, playwright Renee Liang, and kaumātua Fred Tito to bring the stories to life, conducting two workshops where participants were given an opportunity to hone their storytelling skills.

Lunicke said there was a presumption that Whangārei had two dominant cultures, and this workshop was for the people who do not tick either of those boxes.

“Through stories, the multiplicity of experiences – good and bad – can be combed out, the gleaming threads made more visible, and then woven into a new form to share.

“That’s what Landing in Whangārei is. A bright thread winding through our landscape, for us to hold on to, add to, or feel anchored by.”

From the workshops, Lunicke said, they found the journey was much longer and emotionally complex and was also evolving constantly.

“I see people coming from different cultural backgrounds every single day.

“Storytelling can be a beautiful way to both reclaim one’s own identity and truth and acknowledge the complexity of our backgrounds and stories.

“While also providing an opportunity for the wider community to appreciate and understand the diversity that surrounds them.”

Lunicke said the project was not just about collecting and developing stories untold by people, but would give them an opportunity to just meet and feel a community between and within each other.

“… that has its own power, which is fabulous.”

Lunicke said while people born and raised in Whangārei had their own sense of appreciation for the place, they did not see things changing.

However, for Lunicke, they saw the place transform all the time.

“The more I talk to people with similar stories, the more I realise how much resilience we have and wisdom we have developed on our own that we bring with us.

“… how we can broaden and extend the appreciation of where we live because of that different viewpoint.

“Whangārei is a town that is constantly changing and we are in a relationship with it.

“We are all part of Whangārei as it is unfolding. It is history, it’s happening right now and we are a part of it just by being here.”

Landing in Whangārei is an evolving project to record some of that history from the viewpoint of personal experiences, says Lunicke.

“We wanted to share the stories in a Covid-19 safe way and in the public, so some of the stories will go into public places where people can watch it on a device, some would go on the website, and develop into a digital archive of people’s stories of their relationship to Whangārei.”

Kaumātua Fred Tito said the kaupapa bolstered the ethnic and cultural migrants to be who they were, share their wisdom and experiences, and find ways to have collective acknowledgement and welcoming of their contributions and place in the wider community.

Tito said story sharing was an important form of communication, and as people learn to listen, they begin to learn to understand each other.

“… and when we begin to understand each other, we begin to see similarities and uniqueness of each other, which we celebrate.

“Tuia te muka tangata. Weaving the strands of humanity.”