Editorial: Grievances can be appeased at Ihumātao 19 Dec, 2020 04:00 PM 3 minutes to read The Māori words for self-determination are spelt out at Ihumātao. Photo / Sylvie Whinray, File NZ Herald EDITORIAL There are several reasons why Ihumātao is important - many of them embedded in the past but resounding still today. Early ancestors connected to the land include Mataaho, after who Ihumātao, or Te Ihu o Mataaho (the nose of Mataaho) is named, according to an account by Auckland War Memorial Museum history curator Lucy Mackintosh. READ MORE: Archaeologists have also confirmed Māori were present on the Māngere-Puhinui coastline by around 1450 and were gardening on the lava fields at Ihumātao by the end of the 1500s.