(QUIRKY MUSIC) www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2023 - Kia ora. Welcome to In Case You Missed It. Ko Tane toku ingoa. Time to tahuna te ahi with a look at what's been happening here in Aotearoa and overseas. Well, this week we celebrate Matariki, the cluster of nine stars that rise in our winter skies marking the start of the Maori New Year. Traditionally, Matariki was a time for Maori to acknowledge those who have passed and to release their spirits to become stars. It was also a time to reflect, to be thankful to the gods, and to share the bounty of the harvest with family and friends. Today we all get to celebrate this special time of year with a public holiday and an opportunity to spend quality time with your whanau. And this year's theme is Matariki Kainga Hokia ― Matariki Calls You Home. This year, we encourage everyone to return to their whanau and their people, wherever or whoever that might be, and celebrate Matariki. Whakanui a te tau hou Maori. Players in the upcoming FIFA Women's World Cup tournament started arriving in New Zealand this week, including the defending champions, the USA. The tournament kicks off in Auckland on Thursday with New Zealand facing Norway, and for the first time, the Tino Rangatiratanga flag will fly alongside the New Zealand flag at all 29 matches in Aotearoa. FIFA approved a request from Australia and New Zealand football organisations to fly the countries' Indigenous flags at the matches. People visiting Auckland Airport during Matariki will be greeted and farewelled in te reo Maori. Auckland Airport want te reo Maori to be the first thing travellers hear when they land in Aotearoa and messages about the significance of Matariki. It enlisted the help of two local children and two staff members to read the PA announcements which will play out in both terminals. Auckland husband and wife duo Lissy Cole and Rudi Robinson-Cole have completed their world's first life-size crochet wharenui, an art installation idea which had been in their imagination for years. Inspired by Maori design and a desire to help people understand Matauranga Maori, or Maori knowledge, the couple have been pushing the boat out, constructing what is believed to be a world-first life-size crochet wharenui, which is a main building of a marae. - Our blessed hands have been chosen to create this crocheted wharenui with the most simple intention of to bring aroha. - E tino ataahua. A four-hour underwater music festival was staged in the Florida Keys this week to advocate for the protection of the continental United States' only living coral barrier reef. Hundreds of divers and snorkelers swam among Looe Key's colourful marine life and coral formations while listening to water-themed music broadcast by a local radio station. The music was piped undersea through waterproof speakers suspended beneath boats and was interspersed with diver awareness messages about ways to minimise environmental impacts on the world's coral reefs ― the rainforests of the sea. (DRAMATIC MUSIC) From coral reefs to Pacific atolls ― are you familiar with the Rainbow Warrior? This week in 1985, Aotearoa woke up to the news that Greenpeace's flagship, the Rainbow Warrior, had been sunk overnight after French Secret Service agents planted two bombs on its hull, killing a crew member. Preparing for a trip to Mururoa Atoll to protest French nuclear testing, the ship was moored in Auckland Harbour on July 10, and only hours before, the crew had been celebrating one of their birthdays on board. Close to midnight, with their guests gone, an explosion rocked the ship, and while everyone evacuated, crew member and photographer Fernando Pereira returned to his cabin to retrieve his camera equipment when there was a second explosion. Within minutes, the ship was sunk, and Fernando had drowned. After the bombing, only two agents were charged with manslaughter and were both released within less than two years. The Rainbow Warrior was given a final resting place at Matauri Bay in New Zealand's Cavalli Islands, where it has become a living reef, attracting marine life and recreational divers. In the spirit of celebrating Te Ao Maori, what do you know about Kingitanga and the story of our Maori royal whanau? (SPARSE PERCUSSIVE MUSIC) Before European settlers arrived here in Aotearoa, Maori society was made up of multiple iwi. Each iwi shared a common ancestry and had their own leaders or chiefs who looked after their communities. When settlers arrived at the end of the 18th century, things changed for Maori, and, by the 1850s, there were growing numbers of European settlers who wanted to take over the land. Unlike the settlers, Maori did not see land as a possession, but as settler numbers grew, so did their hunger for more land. After a visit to Britain in 1851, a young Maori called Tamihana Te Rauparaha was surprised that the whole of Great Britain was ruled by only one chief, the Queen. In Aotearoa, there were many chiefs. Some were friends; some were enemies. But this meant that the power was broken up into many different pieces. Back home, Tamihana told his people about the British Queen and suggested Maori should create their own royal whanau to come together under one mana to communicate with the Crown. So, in 1853, he and a friend called Henare Matene Te Whiwhi began to travel around the North Island looking for a potential Maori king. However, most chiefs thought that they weren't worthy of the job. But at a gathering of chiefs held at Pukawa in April 1857, Ngati Mahuta chief Potatau Te Wherowhero finally agreed to become the Maori King. Fast forward to 2023, Te Arikinui Tuheitia Paki is our seventh Maori monarch from the Potatau Te Wherowhero line. The Kingitanga or Maori King Movement is one of the longest-standing political institutions in Aotearoa. Lastly, make sure you don't miss TVNZ and TikTok's Purapura Whetu ― Stars of Matariki livestreaming on TVNZ+ and TVNZ TikTok from 8pm tonight. We'll be celebrating Matariki with live performances from some of the biggest and brightest stars in Aotearoa, including Stan Walker, Paige, Coterie, and more. It's going to be an epic night, so gather the whanau and celebrate Matariki with us at Te Reo Tataki. Well, that's me for this week. Thank you very much for joining us. We'll catch you next week for more In Case You Missed It. Manawatia a Matariki. Ka kite ano.