Matariki: How Māori navigators use the stars to keep their waka on course

Traditional Māori navigators use celestial bodies, as well as ocean currents, winds and other natural signs, to guide them across vast distances of ocean, with no GPS and no technology, not even a watch.

Hinerapa Rupuha captained the double-hulled canoe Ngāhiraka Mai Tawhiti on the leg of its journey from Samoa to Tonga in 2025, part of a larger roundtrip from Aotearoa to Samoa.

Rupuha said which stars navigators looked for depended on the time of year and your position in the Pacific Ocean.

"We were quite fortunate that our chief gave us a solid 67 stars that were the main stars, that no matter where we were going to be in the world, we'll be able to see them."

That was a lot to memorise, as along with their names, you were also memorising their position in the sky, the time they passed the meridian and their positions relative to other stars or star clusters, she said.

"If I couldn't see a star but I could see one that's next to it, I know it's there because I can see this one. So for example, Matariki is next to Taumata-kuku - which is in the Taurus Horns. So if I can see Taumata-kuku but I can't see Matariki, I can see Matariki."

A navigator's view of the sky will change depending on where they were, so navigating by the stars was more than just knowing the star names.

Rupuha described it as a relationship that you build with the stars.

"I could learn those 67 stars and where they're positioned, but I can't translate that on the waka if I don't build a relationship with them.

"There's a star called Tautoru, or star cluster, which is Orion's belt. One star in there, Mintaka, rises due east, which is zero degrees. So because I know this one star, and if I see this one star rising, I know that that's due east. So that means I have my full compass."

So based on that one star, she could establish where the other cardinal directions were.

"Every star has that kind of, not translation, but that kind of kōrero to them. So because I can see one star, I can position my waka so that I'm going on the right course."

Manihera Forbes runs Ngaa Mata a Karewa based in Whaingaroa Raglan, which mentors emerging navigators on the traditional knowledge of Pacific voyaging.

Like Rupuha, he is part of the third generation of navigators since the revival of the traditional knowledge of navigation - they were taught by the likes of Jack Thatcher and the late Sir Hekenukumai Busby.

Their mātauranga came down in turn from Mau Piailug, a Micronesion navigator from the island of Satawal in the Federated States of Micronesia.

Forbes said Piailug's famous words to his students was not to rely on paper and pen, which can blow away or get wet, you need to use memory.

"Your hand, the width between your forefinger and thumb provides a length. And that's basically a tool that you can use to eye-ometer the distance around the horizon."

This was your one tool to measure and calculate distance on the horizon, he said.

"When we see certain stars or the sun rising we can find our north, south, east, west. And then for direction, we use our hand to measure exactly where on the star compass we want to be heading.

"And the star compass is not something you see, it's a layer in your mind on the horizon, how you break up the horizon into the different whare of the compass to know which stars rise out of which whare and then to be able to select your direction based on what you're seeing or what you're measuring in front of you."