A CHAT WITH... TONI HOETA

Toni Hoeta understands the importance museums have in our communities – they fed her imagination and led her to a career in science and medicine. It wasn’t just the big museums that quenched her thirst for knowledge growing up in the small North Island town of Raetihi but the little repositories of important artefacts all over rural and provincial Aotearoa that her mother took her to as a child.

Hoeta (Ngāti Rangi, Te Atihaunui a Pāpārangi, Ngāti Porou, Te Atiawa), is supporting Museums Aotearoa’s campaign to highlight the value those institutions she grew up with have in our communities.

The third-year medical student and president of Te Rōpū Māori Student Association at Otago University talks to

Bess Manson about her love of science, her fears for Māori health and having the whole of Raetihi behind her.

What influence did museums have on you growing up?

I’ve always had such a huge love for museums. It’s what sparked my passion for science. Coming from quite a low socio-economic background it was my chance to engage with really extravagant science that I didn’t think I’d be able to engage with coming from such a small town.

It’s a privilege to be able to advocate for museums because they advocated for me.

Can you remember your first museum experience?

Yes! I remember it distinctly. I was seven or eight. My mum, Vivienne Hoeta, took me and my little brother to Te Papa. I remember all those taxidermied animals, being able to read about them, engage with them.

Everything was written in both English and te reo Māori, my mother’s primary language. She could read about an exhibit in te reo and talk to us about the cultural and scientific history behind it. I remember the hands-on interactive things like the giant whale’s heart. I crawled through it thinking ‘this is actually what it looks like’ – comparative anatomy at such a young age.

All that contributed to where I am now.

It sounds like your mother was a big influence on your learning journey.

She was. She always read to us about science so I was interested from a young age because of her.

As a teacher she’s been an advocate for learning in every way possible.

Because we didn’t grow up with a lot, any place we went she would find a museum.

I didn’t realise but most small towns have a museum that shows the history of that place. When I first moved to Dunedin almost a decade ago she found little pockets of history down here to give me a taste of what this place was all about.

You had to study science online at high school. That shows a real passion for the subject.

At high school – Ruapehu College – I had a biology teacher but at the time there were no physics or chemistry teachers so I had to learn these subjects by video conferencing.

I also grew up in an iwi that is very much about interacting and understanding our taiao (environment), both the science and the cultural histories of it. So those experiences also solidified my love of the subject – knowing that I can love western science and that I don’t have to leave my culture at the door to love and understand it actually helps.

Coming from a rural town I have the backing of everyone from back home. So having extravagant dreams of medical school from a young age was well-supported and never felt like a dream I couldn’t achieve, because I had the whole of Raetihi behind me.

You grew up in a strong matriarchal iwi. You were raised as the next spirit keeper. Can you tell us more about that?

We are a tribe run by women. I’m a descendent of Uenuku-Manawa-Wiri, the first one to hold all the knowledge. Every generation, that knowledge is passed down to the youngest female. My mum was the youngest female of her whānau in that position.

As a knowledge-holder, my privilege is to pass that on to as many people as

I can reach to keep our stories alive.

What was your pathway into medical school?

I’d always wanted to study medicine. I loved the sciences but I wasn't very good at them so I didn’t get in on my first or second try. I kept doing degrees to increase my score. After my Masters I got a high enough mark to be accepted as a medical student.

What is the feeling among Māori medical students about the Government's decision to examine the Māori and Pacific Admissions Scheme?

This political climate makes me feel like I’m not supposed to be here and I know a lot of other Māori medical students feel that way too.

Despite what has gone on in Māori health recently I feel a passion has erupted too. I see a passion lit in our new students. It’s not the defeatist attitude that I didn’t realise I was taking on. It’s a case of, this may be what we have at the moment but it’s not going to be the end. We are going to keep pushing.

What about the Government’s call to abolish Te Aka Whai Ora (Māori Health Authority)?

Already Māori and Pasifika peoples die almost eight years earlier than our European counterparts and Te Aka Whai Ora exists because we want to close that gap. Improving the healthcare of our most vulnerable improves healthcare for all. Not having a targeted place where those goals can be reached is worrying because I feel like that gap is going to widen, especially with the Smokefree Bill being questioned – that’s a number one contributor to why Māori and Pasifika people die earlier. We have made all this progress, why are we taking these steps back?

“As a knowledgeholder, my privilege is to pass that on to as many people as I can reach to keep our stories alive.”