Joseph Potangaroa

Joseph Potangaroa is a kaitiaki of Ngāti Hāmua and Rangitāne o Wairarapa. His educational work draws on teaching by kaumātua in tikanga, the environment and Wairarapa history. Through Field-Based-STEM he connects teachers and students with the histories of the land, continuing the relationship between cultural knowledge and environmental understanding visible in the sacred-sites project.

Joseph Potangaroa worked in Rangitāne’s research unit on the Ngāti Hāmua sacred-sites GIS project. Jason Kerehi’s 2005 paper records their joint planning and Potangaroa’s full-time research role, with Dane Rimene also involved. Researchers visited sites with elders and connected location information with photographs and documentary material.

Māori Policy Advisor Jason Kerehi and Rangitāne researcher Joseph Potangaroa planned a GIS for Ngāti Hāmua wāhi tapu and other cultural sites so the iwi could organise its research and respond more effectively to resource-consent and land-use pressures.