Stacey Morrison with daughter Maiana and broadcaster Mātai Smith. Photo / Dean Purcell
As they prepare to host this year’s Mānawatia a Matariki broadcast, friends Stacey Morrison and Mātai Smith reflect on how far we’ve come and still have to go.
Stacey Morrison knows her children are growing up in a very different New Zealand to the one in which she grew up in the 1970s and 80s - but she is far too modest to tell them of the role she has played in helping make that change.
Through her relentless advocacy via her media omnipresence and massive publishing empire, built with husband Scotty, Morrison has ensured the Māori language and culture have been steadily returned to the mainstream.
The couple’s three children are now aged between 11 and 17. Their youngest, Maiana, accompanied her mum and godfather Mātai Smith to the photoshoot for this article. She has already begun to follow in her famous parents’ footsteps, appearing on television and recently being cast in a yet-to-be-announced role in a major production.
Maiana is confident, sporty and - like her parents and two older siblings - switches comfortably between English and te reo Māori. Stacey has few concerns about the future for her daughter.
“When you see your kids and the next generation, they’re all good. I just think they’re really interesting people, who have a level of comfort about who they are as New Zealanders and what Aotearoa can be for all of us. Maybe our generation is doing our therapy together or something - I really think that the kids are going to be okay.”
But, she says, the kids are oblivious to the way te reo Māori has flourished in recent decades. Sometimes she and Scotty will try to explain to them the differences between the Aotearoa they grew up in and the one the kids are inheriting from them.
“We say: ‘You know we didn’t always celebrate Matariki?’, or, ‘We didn’t always speak Māori’, and they look at us like, ‘Why are you making this up? This seems very unlikely to me’.”
This Friday, Morrison (Te Arawa, Ngāi Tahu) will, for the third consecutive year, host the five-hour broadcast Mānawatia a Matariki with her good friend, Maiana’s godfather Mātai Smith (Rongowhakaata, Ngāi Tāmanuhiri). Broadcasting live from Treble Cone in Wānaka, the pair will guide viewers through the rituals and meaning of Matariki.
Their role is to act as guides or interpreters for those who are watching. It’s a challenge, because for many viewers it is so new, so their awareness of the traditions and rituals of Matariki is low.
Morrison says: “I have seen people talking about Matariki go, ‘Oh, it’s made up’, Well, the stars are pretty real up there, and the narrative that we attach to it is ancient. There is no doubt about that. But also, why do things endure? And why do they sit with us as humans? It’s because it’s meaningful.”
Smith says when he thinks about Matariki, from a personal point of view it’s about the three ‘R’s: “It’s a reflection on my past year, as well as loved ones. That may be a friend or close person to you; reflecting on them. Resetting, for myself again - sometimes I get so busy in my own little world at this time, it is a good time for me to kind of stop and take stock. And third is reinvigorate: a chance for me to kind of get those energy levels up again.”
Morrison says just as some of us might not have been brought up in a family or as part of a church that celebrates Easter, we can still respect and celebrate the tradition, and the same goes for Matariki. “If you come at it with a good heart, then that’s great”, she says.
“We all look up and have this really unique view of the sky. So this is an opportunity for us to go, ‘Okay, what does it mean to be us and living here?’”
Morrison’s own unique view of the sky is influenced by the fact she’s both Māori and Pakeha, or, as she puts it: “A kind of Treaty package.”
“I like to think that I still have quite an open mind, and I hear different things about how people feel, then I just try to find the sweet spot. Because when you are someone who is both Māori and Pākehā, you’ve got to find it for yourself, where that balance is.”
Matariki is perfectly designed for this country at this moment, she says: “It reminds us to look at what’s happened the last year, set your aspirations for the next year, and also consider the environment and all of the things that make our place so special. So it always makes you feel hopeful. I think Matariki is for all of us. I think it’s the most important thing. Matariki is a new start - can be a new start for all of us.”
Morrison and Smith met at TVNZ in 1996 when Smith was in his late teens and Morrison was in her early 20s.
He was hired to work on Marae and she was already a television veteran, having spent several years at TVNZ on What Now and as a presenter on both Marae and Mai Time. The pair became fast friends and have remained close since.
Their multi-hour Matariki broadcast is both important and unique, because it serves to literally bring the country together - it will screen on all major networks simultaneously, at a time when media fragmentation is at an all-time high and racial unity is starting to fray.
Although both acknowledge we’re in a difficult period for race relations, they describe themselves as optimists. “I can’t get bogged down,” Morrison says. “I refuse to get bogged down, actually. I’m here for the people who are here for a beautiful future.
She says what she and Smith are trying to do is engage with the people who want to engage: “We’re here for the people who are open and who can see that this is as uniting as the night sky. It’s for all of us.”
Smith says the current political climate puts him in mind of the landmark moment when his friend Dame Hinewehi Mohi sang the national anthem, exclusively in te reo Māori, before the All Blacks’ World Cup quarterfinal in London in 1999.
“That was drawing a line in the sand,” Smith says. “Not that I’m saying that Matariki is drawing a line in the sand - it’s drawing a line in the stars - but I think what I’m saying is that it took something like Hinewehi singing the anthem at Twickenham for us to embrace our biculturalism and the fact that we live as one nation here in Aotearoa.”
The musical analogy is relevant because Morrison’s husband is Scotty Morrison, nephew of the legendary Sir Howard Morrison and part of the famous musical Morrison clan.
Stacey says: “Singing’s best in harmony, and that means we’re all singing slightly differently.”
Her dad is James Daniels, co-host with Simon Barnett of Newstalk ZB’s afternoon show. During Māori language week this year, Daniels and Barnett played one of Sir Howard’s most famous songs, Whakaaria Mai, live on air. Because it was part of a segment that invited listener feedback, Stacey, who was listening, was nervous about the response. “What am I going to hear next?” she said. “How do people feel about this?”
What happened is people loved it, and they began to write and call in droves to say so.
“It was beautiful,” she says. “People said, ‘I’m crying’, ‘I’m thinking of my mum’, ‘I’m thinking of Sir Howard’, ‘Those were the days’.”
“And that’s what I love about this country. When we find those things that make us feel proud of who we are, we’re at our best. We’re watching ourselves at the Olympics. We punch above our weight. We’re the haka. We’re a hāngī. We’re Sir Howard. We’re the All Blacks.
“This is who we are. And we are awesome.”
Live coverage of Matariki festivities hosted by Stacey Morrison and Mātai Smith can be seen at matariki.com and on all major networks from 6am-11am on Matariki - Friday, June 28.
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