Whetū Mārama - Bright Star

If it wasn't for the waka, we wouldn't be here today.

– Sir Hek Busby on the central importance of waka and star navigation to Māori

Well, my ancestor was a chief of Te Rarawa. He was Teripi Temaru. And he wanted to become a Christian. And he did so, I believe, in December 1839, not long before the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Then, when he was baptised, James Busby became his godfather — and gave him his name, Busby, which is Puhipi in Māori. Busby was called Puhipi as soon as he arrived here in the north. He was known as Puhipi. The name Hekenukumai Ngaiwi was chosen for me by a grand aunty — although at school I was called Hector, because that was as close as they could get to Hekenukumai in Pākehā.

– Sir Hekenukumai Ngaiwi Puhipi on the origins of his name, E-Tangata, 26 September 2015

It was the Hawaiians who gave us the encouragement way back in 1984. I was just a bridge-builder then, but they were intending to make a waka voyage to Aotearoa — and, when they actually did arrive, it got me thinking about us trying to do something here. When they landed at Waitangi, James Henare told them it was one of the happiest days of his life because so many critics had said that a planned voyage like that had never been done. He also said he hoped that, one day in the near future, we would build a double-hull waka and sail back to where they had started this voyage of rediscovery. That’s when I really took it seriously.

– Sir Hek Busby on being inspired to build and sail traditional waka in the mid 1980s, E-Tangata, 26 September 2015

Well it was gone, we'd lost that for like 600 years...and it wasn't until an extraordinary group of people came together and wanted to reclaim that knowledge.

– Co-director Toby Mills on Sir Hek Busby and his followers reclaiming the knowledge of celestial navigation by waka, Radio New Zealand, 14 November 2021

His passion was engineering; I mean he was a bridge-builder, he built 200 bridges in Northland. Metaphorically he became this other bridge-builder as well, a bridge-builder of Oceania. He connected us back to the other islands of Polynesia…it must have been in his DNA.

– Co-director Toby Mills on the 'destiny' of Sir Hekenukumai Ngaiwi Puhipi, Radio New Zealand, 14 November 2021

Toby [Mills] would talk about Hek. I was always intrigued .... I thought the world could do with a story like that — a story that took us away from selfies and cell phones and took us to sea.

– Co-director Aileen O'Sullivan on the long journey of making the film, Flicks website, 10 November 2021