Hawaiian Airlines is proud to announce the famous Hawaiian voyaging canoe Hōkūleʻa and her crew are venturing beyond the Pacific for the first time to visit Australia this month.
The canoe departed New Zealand on April 30 and will ail into Darling Harbour on 15 May. Hōkūleʻa uses traditional Polynesian navigation techniques to sail – pushed by the wind navigating by the stars. The journey is part of Hōkūleʻa’s 47,000 nautical-mile sail around the world to bring attention to the importance of protecting environmental and cultural treasures for future generations.
The voyaging canoe, is a state treasure of HawaiʻI. It will be based at Sydney’s National Maritime Museum until 23 May. Details are available here http://www.anmm.gov.au/whats-on/calendar/hokulea
Hōkūleʻa has travelled over 150,000 nautical miles during her 40-year history, reviving the art and science of traditional navigation in the Pacific. The ancient knowledge of how to use stars, waves, wind, and animal behavior for direction allowed Pacific Islanders to traverse and settle the vast Pacific Ocean for millennia.
Reviving the practice of wayfinding helped to strengthen the Hawaiian renaissance in the 1970s, bringing Hawaiian language, knowledge, and culture back from the edge of disappearance. Since her maiden voyage to Tahiti in 1976, Hōkūleʻa has travelled to Japan, Easter Island, Alaska, New Zealand, and many other locations in the Pacific.
The current Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage, sponsored by Hawaiian Airlines, is a four-year voyage spanning 85 ports, 26 nations, and 12 of UNESCO’s Marine World Heritage sites. Mālama Honua means “to care for Island Earth” and a new generation of navigators is learning to use wayfinding not only to find islands, but to help find a sustainable future.
Outreach and education is a primary focus of the voyage as it visits ports around the world. Hōkūleʻa’s captain for the Australia leg of the Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage, master navigator Bruce Blankenfeld, will be presenting on traditional navigation and the Worldwide Voyage at the Australian Museum on May 20. After Sydney, Hōkūleʻa anticipates making stops in Brisbane, Townsville, Cairns, Thursday Island, and Great Barrier Reef, and Darwin, weather and safety conditions permitting.
“Australia is on our sail plan because of its incredible natural and cultural treasures, and our desire to explore a part of the world that is new to us,” said Polynesian Voyaging Society president and master navigator, Nainoa Thompson.
“It is a place that we can relate to because of the potential of bringing together diverse sectors to care for our ocean and find positive ways forward. We are seeking to learn from innovative approaches in Australia so we can share that knowledge with other communities as we continue to voyage around the world.”
Nainoa Thompson, Polynesian Voyaging Society president and master navigator
The Worldwide Voyage will be in Australia through late July before continuing on to Indonesia, Madagascar, and South Africa. In 2016, Hōkūleʻa will make her way to the east coast of the United States, where PVS leadership and crewmembers will visit with the United Nations and global conservation leaders to deliver the ocean protection declarations gathered from around the world.
