Wikipedia talk:Meetup/Mohua / Golden Bay

Anaweka waka

Tasman District councillor Chris Hill (Q115124976) appears to act as guardian for the Anaweka waka, hence I rang her to find out:

• whether there's a possibility of me or us taking photos, and
• whether there are any cultural sensitivities around the topic

The Anaweka waka, stored at the Tākaka dairy factory of all places, is the oldest extant waka in New Zealand dated to 1400 AD. It was found on Golden Bay's west coast (at the Anaweka River mouth) in January 2012. Whilst there has been some reporting on it (e.g. this Stuff article from April 2023) and a scientific paper has been published, Chris maintains that none of the sources reflect the real significance of this archaeological find, both cultural and historical. As such, she feels it would be premature to write a Wikipedia article about the waka at this point. Let's respect that view. Schwede66 17:13, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

Would be great if we could set up a stub or even a placeholder for the waka - it's an amazing find, and the references are solid. Appreciate Chris' view that there's still much yet to be discussed, but surely that could also be said for many (most?) Wikipedia articles related to older Māori artefacts.

(found this reference when adding a summary to the new Kahurangi National Park article) Somej (talk) 02:04, 21 January 2024 (UTC)

I guess Wikipedia is a collaborative project and we can't stop anyone from writing about a notable subject, Somej. All I'm saying is that I wouldn't want to see this article being started as part of this meetup, given that I've had this conversation with Chris. If someone else does something outside of the meetup, I cannot influence that. Schwede66 18:42, 21 January 2024 (UTC)