Chatham Islanders

There's more to these islands than what you see. Rekohu / Chatham Island / Wharekauri - three peoples, one land. The Chatham Island archipelago is 45 minutes ahead and 800 kilometres east of New Zealand / Aotearoa.

A history so very rich, and so very dark. Rekohu / Chatham Island / Wharekauri - these remote islands have a profoundly beautiful and devastatingly sad history that is still felt today.

The islanders have learnt to be resilient living 800 kilometres from Aotearoa, and looking out for each other has become a way of life.

The main Chatham Island is the big smoke for the 46 inhabitants of Pitt Island. There are no shops, no gas stations and it's a whole different world.

The land and the sea is everything on the Chatham Islands. Looking after the land and the sea and also each other is an essential part of life on this isolated archipelago.

Lois Croon & her husband Val came to the Chatham Islands in the 1970s with 4 kids under 5 and $100. She had a dream about the land. 40 years later the islands have finally been discovered big time.

We were taught that Moriori didn't exist. Today is the beginning of a new story as Moriori rebuild their cultural traditions, language, identity & whakapapa, piecing it back together.