Iwidex

Tungia te ururoa, kia tupu whakaritorito te tupu a te harakeke

Burn off the undergrowth so that new shoots of the flax bush grow

Then use Iwidex, an easy way to find information about Māori waka, traditions, waiata, haka, tribal whenua, maunga, marae, carving, weaving, stories and whakapapa.

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(needs a library card barcode and PIN - see help)

Key content

Iwidex has its strengths in its focus on people, whakapapa and the land. The information contained in this index is drawn from a wide range of materials, published and unpublished. They include Auckland newspapers The New Zealand Herald, The Auckland Star and The Weekly News, current Māori newspapers and magazines and numerous other journals. Some information is derived from the Libraries' Māori manuscript collection and early printed Māori work.

All records in Iwidex have waka, iwi (and sometimes hapu) descriptors as well as descriptors for rohe and takiwa. These fields allow the searcher to narrow or broaden a search as required.

How to use Iwidex keyword search

Keyword search is the easiest way to access records in Iwidex. Keep it simple to ensure numerous hits on the subject your searching. Type in names of family, tribal names, marae, carving, stories or historic events. 

A typical keyword search strategy might look something like this:

• Hone Heke :

  This search should retrieve all items concerning Hone Heke, which has been indexed.

• Heke & whakapapa & Ngapuhi :

  This will retrieve items concerning Heke family geneaology, Ngapuhi region.

• Kingitanga & Tainui :

  King movement in the Tainui region.

Hints for indepth searching in Iwidex:

Type a word or phrase the keyword search box.
Use an asterisk (*) to truncate your search term(s).
Use an ampersand (&) between words if you want both to be present.
Use a slash (/) between words to indicate that either word need be present.
Use an exclamation mark (!)before a word to exclude results containing that word.
When searching for a Mäori word or name try different variations. Some words may be hyphenated or may use double vowels. Some Ngai Tahu names may be entered using the Ngai Tahu dialectal variation.

For example Kekereku instead of Kekerengu. One could, however, retrieve all records containing both versions by truncating the search term.  It is possible to search for topics as well as individuals.

A typical search strategy might look something like this:

• Rauparaha & pakanga & Waipounamu :

  This search should retrieve items concerning Te Rauparaha's battles in the South Island only.

• Te Rarawa & pakanga :

  This item will retrieve items concerning Te Rarawa and war, battles the iwi were involved in.

• Kingitanga & Tainui :

  King movement in the Tainui region

Acknowledgements

Iwidex is an index to the sources of information on tribal history, tikanga-a-iwi, and whakapapa held in the Heritage and Research Collections of Auckland City Libraries. The index had its origins as an in-house card index called the Tribal Index.

Patricia French, the New Zealand and Pacific Librarian created the Tribal Index. It was added to by a succession of Mäori librarians.

In 1990, a second Māori Librarian position was created and Robin Hakopa was appointed. Robin in his ten-year tenure greatly increased the number of entries and put them onto a database, Robin also provided knowledge on Te Reo adding significantly Māori words to the National Catalogueas Māori Subject headings. He was dedicated and passionate about the importance of Te Reo and Tikanga in librarianship.

Robin passed away in August 2000; and leaves a legacy to be developed by the next generation of Māori librarians.