In a significant occasion that celebrates heritage, Pa Marie Upokotini Ariki attended the opening ceremonies of the Austronesian Cultural and Art Exhibition and the Keqiutou Site Museum in Pingtan Island, China, reflecting on the shared heritage of Austronesian peoples and emphasising the importance of understanding their origins, including those of the Cook Islands.

This event shows an important step in furthering international understanding and appreciation of Pacific Island cultures and their historical connections, and serves as a vital platform for displaying and studying the origins and expansions of Austronesian people.

The museum features three exhibits on Pingtan’s prehistoric culture, Austronesian navigation and art, showcasing over 600 relics from 5000-6500 years ago. Archaeological findings suggest these artifacts closely resemble those from Taiwan, linking Pingtan to the ancestors of the Austronesians.

According to Wikipedia, the Austronesians are a large group of peoples from places such as Taiwan, Maritime Southeast Asia, parts of Mainland Southeast Asia, Micronesia, coastal New Guinea, Island Melanesia, Polynesia, and Madagascar that speak languages that have been categorised by some as Austronesian languages.

Pa Marie Upokotini Ariki was humbled by the honour to attend the event. She was accompanied by son Sam Napa.

“This place, this museum and the story it tells is special. It’s special for me, and for more than 400 million people just like me, whose ancestors set out on journeys of huge daring and courage. I feel privileged to stand here today as a representative of those peoples,” Pa Marie Upokotini Ariki said.

She reflected on journeys Polynesian ancestors have made in the ocean, and how tough it was for them sailing in their vaka for weeks, months and years, reaching further and further into the unknown.

“For our ancestors, the unknown lay ahead of them; we can imagine the questions they asked themselves – what did their future hold? What lay beyond the horizon? How far did the oceans stretch?” she asked.

“I’m proudly Polynesian, and we know the answers to these questions.

“I say this because we have, for centuries now, made our homes across a huge triangle of the Pacific – from Hawaii in the north, Easter Island to the east, and the sub-Antarctic islands to the south of Aotearoa New Zealand.”

A small replica of the Tahiti’s TahitiNui Freedom vaka is displayed in the Keqiutou Site Museum in Pingtan. SUPPLIED/24122402

Pa Marie Upokotini Ariki said today, different questions are asked like – “where do we come from? Where, exactly did our journey start?”

When she was a girl, people talked of Thor Heyerdahl, the Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer who hoped to prove that Polynesia could have been populated from South America rather than Asia. He then spent most of his life gaining evidence for this theory.

“Others talked of us as a people blown and scattered across the Pacific, drifting aimlessly and without purpose, stranded on tiny islands with stone age tools and minds to match,” Pa Ariki said.

“In my lifetime, answers have started to emerge. Modern archaeology, carbon dating, DNA profiling and all the techniques of modern science and technology along with anthropological and linguistic studies are all shining a light on the Austronesians – an inspired, deliberate and purposeful waterborne people.”

According to Pa Ariki, the Austronesians sailed as far west as Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, and reached Easter Island in the Pacific, possibly even the west coast of South America.

“During my lifetime, the full, awesome story of our confident, exuberant, and deliberate exploration and settlement of the Pacific has been slowly pieced together.

“On my own personal journey, I have sailed aboard great canoes of the sort that you see here today, navigating by the sun, the stars and all the moods of sky and ocean.”

While in Pingtan, Pa Marie Upokotini Ariki believed that Polynesia is drawing even closer to satisfying the questions around our origins, and the starting point of the Austronesian journey.

The Keqiutou Ruins Museum in Pingtan, focuses on the origin and spread of the Austronesian language family and provides a new window to understand Austronesian culture.