Tuhi-Ao Bailey (Ngāti Mutunga, Te Ātiawa, Taranaki) is a kaitiaki dedicated to our Taiao. The Parihaka pā trustee supports hapū, marae and Māori landowners with water, fish and flora monitoring, as well as riparian planting and pest control. She is a passionate climate change champion and gardener who has helped set up maara and tree nurseries with a number of roopu, while also incorporating Indigenous planting practices into her own backyard.
She is known to many by her Pākehā ingoa, Emily. However in recent years she has actively sought to Indigenise her world even more, nurturing her reo Māori, receiving her moko kauae, and leading with her ingoa taketake.
In this episode we talk about her mahi as an iwi representative and her many years of advocacy, activism and action. We discuss the importance of whenua, growing kai and the effects of climate change. Tuhi Ao also shares an intimate insight into what it was like to be abruptly thrown into the public eye on October 15, 2007, and how Taranaki has helped heal her and find strength in her identity as a wahine Māori.
The idea was about bringing back the environment around the rivers but also bringing our people back to our whenua
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