LEGENDS OF THE LAND
represents Ralph Talmont's search for the connection
between a traditional Maori story, the people who tell it and the land with which it is associated. His curiosity about how the lore of stories is reflected in peoples' lives today has led him to explore the rich
tradition of valued relationships with very precisely established pieces of land. The stories told in this book are connections to the lands that are the past, the present and the future for Maori. These are stories about ancestors of old, told here by men and women for future generations to treasure.
Working with tribal representatives in ten distinct areas of New Zealand, Ralph has collected a series of stunning portraits and landscape photographs to accompany local stories, as told by a kaumatua or kuia.
The regions covered are: Waitangi, Auckland, Tauranga, Rotorua, Whakatane, Gisborne, Taranaki, Nelson Lakes, West Coast and Bluff.