Troy Brockbank

As a mokopuna of Te Tai Tokerau with whakapapa to Te Rarawa, Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi and Ngātiwai, Troy Brockbank is intent on enhancing the mana of his people and the quality of Aotearoa New Zealand’s water.

Bringing te ao Māori to water engineering is a mission Troy thanks his mother, Trish Love, for.

“My mum is my biggest hero. She is the person who has always believed in me and encouraged me to follow my own path,” says Troy, a 2007 Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) graduate of the University of Auckland.

It’s a path he has received industry endorsement for as the recipient of the Fulton-Downer silver medal in 2020 from Engineering New Zealand. The award citation recognised him as “an impressive emerging leader” who “is dedicated to naturalising te ao Māori within the engineering industry”.

That followed him being named Water New Zealand’s Young Water Professional of the Year in 2018 for his work applying mātauranga Māori and kaitiakitanga (guardianship, stewardship and protection) in the water industry, developing sustainable stormwater designs and promoting waterway protection and restoration.

A decade and a half after graduating from the Faculty of Engineering / Te Herenga Mātai Pūkaha, Troy is continuing to promote and embed indigenous knowledge in his work to bring about a step change in how the sector embraces mātauranga Māori.

His particular passions are stormwater management and water-sensitive design. In other words, solutions designed to ensure Aotearoa’s awa, our waterways, are healthy.

“It is the water that cloaks Papatūānuku that we must keep healthy in order to keep ourselves healthy,” says Troy.

“For too long we have tried to manage water, but really we need to manage ourselves, our activities and our behaviours towards water.”

As his professional career has progressed, Troy has taken on several governance roles. He is a board member of two of the country’s pivotal water-management bodies, the national Three Waters regulator Taumata Arowai and the industry organisation Water New Zealand.

And connecting him to one of his iwi is his position as a trustee of the Kawakawa-based Ngāti Hine Health Trust.

Also tying him to Te Hiku o te Ika, the Far North, is the support he is giving his hapū Ngāti Te Ao and Te Tahaawai with a restoration plan for the Tāngonge wetland in his hometown Pukepoto. In a Water New Zealand profile marking his 2018 award, Troy said growing up next to Tāngonge helped shape his career.

“I grew up playing in it. We could see it from the hill – the streams that went into it, the farmland around it.

“When I was young, I didn't really understand what it was or what it was doing. In fact, I didn’t think much about it, but it must have triggered my interest in the environment.”

The country can be grateful he followed that impulse and took to heart his mother’s message to always be true to himself.

“She has challenged me to be my authentic self in all that I do and pushes me to carry on above and beyond the limits,” says Troy.

“I am proud to be an example for the next generation of Māori engineers and professionals and hope I can inspire them to take this journey.

“I am proud of the opportunity I have to always give back to te ao Māori while continuing to walk in and learn from te ao Māori.”

And he has some advice for the next generation of Aotearoa.

“It is really a question they can ask themselves. He aha tō tākoha ki te ao – what is your gift for the world?”