Source: Radio New Zealand
Artist’s impression of the $15m Ngāmotu Marae. Supplied / Boon Design / LDR
A new marae under construction in New Plymouth – a city that hasn’t had a functioning marae for about 150 years – represents a homecoming for mana whenua.
Ngāti Te Whiti hapū is building the $15 million Ngāmotu Marae, overlooking Port Taranaki, and hopes it will become a focal point for the wider community.
Julie Healey, who has a consents planning role at the hapū, has fond memories of Ngāmotu Beach.
“As little ones growing up, we used to come here quite a bit. There were baches all along the front here to the beach.
“We’d come down here as kids. dad and them would be there, all the old aunties would be there.
“It was so beautiful back in the days and, I tell you what, they were the best cooks. The big roasting dish of chocolates cakes and all that kai.”
The baches are long gone, but Healey said establishing Ngāmotu Marae adjacent to the beach would be better still.
“For me to be able to see my mokopuna on here, that’s a good thing, because my grandparents wanted the same.
“For us, it is a big deal putting a stake, a pou, in the ground, I guess. We’ve always been here.
“You can ask the archaeologists we work with. They’ll tell you Ngāti Te Whiti has been here a long time and they’re still here.
“They’re going to be here forever.”
Former board member Kura Ratapu also had childhood memories of Ngāmotu beach.
“This was our playground, this was our front yard and all of us kids during holidays, we would come down here.
“We would play, we would be down here all day and we’d basically go home at night had it, tired, hungry, but then we’d come back the next day and do it all over again.”
Ratapu explained the hapū had its land confiscated in the 1800s and many whanau were later moved out of the area.
“Once they decided they wanted to build a waterfront here, then basically, all of our whanau that were here all got kicked out.
“There was no compensation. It was, like, ‘Sorry, we want to take this land, we’re going to put up a wharf here’.”
Many whanau lost their connection to the area.
“A lot of them didn’t live in their own tribal or hapū area, because the land got confiscated, they had to move and they had to go where the jobs were – they had families.
Ngāti Te Whiti hapū members Kura Ratapu, Shelton Healey and Julie Healey discussed the significance of the new marae. RNZ/Robin Martin
“There were only a few whanau who were lucky enough to stay here and keep those home fires burning.”
Ratapu’s grandfather was among the first to lobby for a marae at Ngāmotu beach.
“It was because this is where they all grew up, this is where they lived, this is about their relationships, but it was also about, in later years, saying, ‘We’re still here, you can’t wipe us out’.
“People might say who is this Ngāti Te Whiti? Well, you come down once the marae is built and you’ll see who they are.”
Ratapu said Ngāmotu Marae would fulfil a vital role for the hapū.
“Through all of this, we can only hope that our mokopuna will see and learn their whakapapa, and get to realise that nobody can tell them where to go, nobody can say who they are or that they don’t belong, because they do.”
Ngāti Te Whiti chair Shelton Healey said the hapū had been without a home for too long.
“Time have been tough in terms of helping future generations understand who they are, what their whakapapa is and how to involve themselves being Māori in a Māori kaupapa space, such as a marae.
“For mana whenua here, we’ve always had to go onto marae as visitors.”
He said the marae build had not come without its challenges.
In 2019, then hapū chief executive and former police officer Shaun Keenan was jailed, after stealing about $500,000 from Ngāti Te Whiti, sending the then-$4.5 million project back to the drawingboard.
“It was an unfortunate situation that happened, and we were determined to fix that and make sure, for me and whanau members, that our future generations were going to have somewhere they could call home.
“One person wasn’t going to destroy that for us.”
Healey said the first phase of the project would include an atea, a wharenui sleeping 80 and wharekai catering to 100 people per sitting.
He was thrilled at the prospect.
“Knowing one day we’ll be able to sit inside a marae that’s going to build here for whanau, hapū members, kaumatua, our community itself, where we can come together as one and be one people even… yeah, it’s an exciting time.
“It’s an exciting time for Ngāti Te Whiti, but also the community.”
The hapū was still raising about $5 million with partners Taranaki Foundation to enable phase two of the project, which included an administration area, community facilities and support amenities.
Taranaki Foundation chief executive Josh Hickford said the charity had set up a page on its website to allow the public to donate to the project.
“This project brings tangible benefits to our city, from creating local job opportunities to enhancing cultural infrastructure for generations to come.”
Phase one of the marae build was expected to take about 15 months to complete.
Donations could be made via the Taranaki Foundation portal.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
