Māori diaspora: Being Māori on the Gold Coast

Abstract

An estimated one in five Māori now live in Australia with the largest concentration on the Gold Coast. My research gives voice to the lived realities of the Māori diaspora and is informed by my own reflections as a first-generation Australian-born Māori and those of my whānau. Through discussion with whānau who either emigrated over to Australia as adults or were born and raised in Australia because of their parents’ emigration, in my thesis I shed light on constructions of identity and notions of belonging for Māori on the Gold Coast living on the traditional land of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

With an understanding of the entangled complexities on undertaking research on Māori living on the land of another Indigenous Peoples, I utilise both Kaupapa Māori and Indigenous Research paradigms as the foundation for this thesis. Using pūrākau as method, with a storytelling approach, I had expected to be sitting with my whānau kanohi ki te kanohi, sharing food and laughs in the home. However, Covid-19 put a halt to my desired research approach. Despite this hurdle, I was able to collate and combine our shared stories to express what it is to be Māori on the Gold Coast through the utilisation of online spaces. Through my findings, I demonstrate that Māori on the Gold Coast articulate a range of ways to be Māori with diverse and hopeful views for the future. This challenges dominant Māori scholarship which often excludes and invisibilizes Māori experiences outside of Aotearoa, as if people cease to be Māori once they have left.

This thesis adds to Indigenous diasporic discussions in communicating the fluidity of Māori identity. I argue that Māori have a connection to Aotearoa that is not necessarily tied physically to the whenua, nor bound to preconceptions and measures of history. Understanding our diaspora is essential for considering future implications for Indigenous solidarity, and for cultural growth and retention.