Margaret has been a member of Creative Fibre (NZSWWS) since 1984 and is a skilful exponent of our heritage crafts. She is a gifted and committed volunteer tutor who continues to enthuse and support learners of all ages and from diverse backgrounds.
Her late husband was Maori, as are her children and grandchildren.Initially she learned the culture by learning the language and then by learning the traditional weaving techniques and their associated spiritual values. This was not an easy path and involved great determination in finding and taking full advantage of many sources and learning opportunities - books, informal and formal tuition and study of museum pieces. In 1993 Margaret became the first person in New Zealand to complete the new 'He Konae Aronui' (Maori Arts course) offered by the Open Polytechnic - thus being the first woman and the first pakeha to complete the course. She is very comfortable to continue weaving with the traditional techniques and admires their beauty, simplicity and resourcefulness. To date Margaret has woven four cloaks for her children and grandchildren to wear at their graduation ceremonies.
As an honoured guest in Margaret's home, the Waka Huia is receiving many admiring visitors, who talk to it, sing to it and even cry over it. Alongside the Waka Huia sits a framed copy of a 'whaka tauki' which reads………… "This strand of flax is nothing by itself, like me, But woven tightly with other strands….it is strong, like us together". Winning the Award has given Margaret and her extended family a huge amount of pleasure and pride but sadly it has coincided with the death of her oldest grandchild.
Written by Anthea Davidson.
Margaret says………… Wanting to win awards is not really my thing. Anthea had to do some hard talking to convince me that I should put my work in the Exhibition. I had all sorts of excuses. I am however humbled that my work has been recognised at national level and the Waka Huia will be a guest at my house for a while. The name of my cloak in the exhibition is Te Awaroa, which is the original name of the Waitara River. It is also my grandson's name. It links him with the place where he was born and with his tribe. The Kete Whakairo (a flax and feather taniko kete in the National Exhibition 2005 Ed.) is a gift for my youngest daughter when she finishes her Master of Arts degree specialising in Museum Studies. I have a very strict code by which I weave. I am very staunch about how and when and why I weave. Weaving is not difficult. It is making yourself stick to the routine, that is the hardest part. Each morning I start when the sun is up and shining at six o'clock and I weave until I have finished one row, which is about five hundred stitches. Then I have breakfast and get on with my day. My work grows half an inch a day. Every seven days I have a rest. When the first cold winds of autumn arrive I put away my work and get out my spinning wheel and knitting needles. It is all about the seasons. I am eager and waiting for the signs to start again and refreshed from the break. I look after my harakeke bushes. I don't pick flax on a cold windy day or if it is raining and I never weave after the sun goes down or on a grey day. I never sell my work either. Observing all these rules ensures that it is quality not quantity that I produce. I started weaving when I was twenty-two, which is forty-five years ago. What I enjoy the most is sharing my knowledge with others. The door is open in the summer time for anyone to come and learn at my place.
There is a sadness forever for me attached to this award. I have lost a treasured grandson.
E Hemi taku mokopuna tuatahi moe mai moe mai ki to moengaroa
Anthea's involvement did not end when she delivered the cloak safely to Wellington. Due to her persistence Te Papa loaned one of their cloak forms so it could be displayed in the striking manner it was in the exhibition. The Society is very grateful to Te Papa for their generosity and help.
The Far North Award and the Waka Huia
Waka huia ~ carved box for holding huia feathers and other small valuable treasures.
Creative Fibre's Waka Huia was presented on the last day of the 1998 Kaitaia Festival - an enormous surprise and a great honour as such treasures are rarely given. The carver of the Waka Huia, Dr Bruce Gregory of Ahipara, had looked at what had been done to involve the five local iwi and to bring people to the small town of Kaitaia. He had seen what had been done to promote Maori weaving and this region of New Zealand at the 1998 Festival, and to show his appreciation, he decided that the Festival was a worthy recipient of the Waka Huia. Dr Gregory expressed the wish that the Festival Committee should have the Waka Huia for the first year, and after that he requested that it become an award for future Festivals. The Kaitaia Festival Committee decided that the award should be known as The Far North Award, in the hope that people would not forget the 1998 Festival too quickly! Alan McClymont made a box, with felt lining by Dawn McClymont, for the Waka Huia.
The award has been presented each year since at the National Exhibition, for 'the most creative use of New Zealand design or material', with the first award winner being the Malvern Spinners and Weavers. That it was given to a group effort thrilled the Kaitaia people, as this embraced the spirit of the presentation - the joining together of people to celebrate fibre. Other Far North Award winners: 2000 Maree Liddington, 2001 Catrina Suter, 2002 Isla Clark, 2003 Helen Renner, 2004 Donna Hitchcox, 2005 Margaret White. Each of these winners has left her own 'treasure' in the Waka Huia, something with personal meaning to take into the future.