Work on the new Taiharuru Marae is expected to start in early 2020 after decades of planning and fundraising.
Work on the new Taiharuru Marae is expected to start in early 2020 after decades of planning and fundraising.
It's been a long time coming for generations of a Northland hapū as decades of planning and substantial financial grants will come to fruition when work on a new marae starts in a few months.
The new Taiharuru Marae, on a 10.5ha block of land at Taiharuru Rd, 32km northeast of Whangārei, will also act as a school of learning for tikanga and te reo Māori, a tourism hub for local businesses, electric vehicle charge stations, a search and rescue base, and a civil defence centre.
The idea of a new marae was broached in the 1950s and even though it never got off the ground, Ngāti Korora kept fundraising through many generations so one day they could have their own sacred place.
"When the other coastal marae at Takahiwai, Ngunguru and Whananaki were built in the 1950s, Taiharuru was on that list to be built by the combined labour of all the hapū that whakapapa to those marae. Taiharuru, in its humble attitude, said it would be the last," Taiharuru Marae chairperson Trina Hadfield recalled.
"However, by the time the last of those marae was built, the labour force was depleted and tired and Taiharuru was not built then."
In 2009, the marae committee forked out more than $100,000 for architectural and engineering drawings, resource and building consents, geotechnical reports, and went to the Environmental Court to challenge opposition to the project.
The marae's consent was approved, with landscaping conditions.
The site is legally a Māori reservation, set aside for the purpose of hui, huimate and religious activities for the common use and benefit of Te Waiariki me Ngāti Korora Hapū.
Funding for the new $1.5m marae will come from the Lion Foundation, which gave a $500,000 grant, Whangārei District Council, which approved $150,000 from its community partnership fund, and more than $100,000 worth of research, reports and design work was funded by Oranga Marae.
Excavation work is expected to start early next year.
The new marae will have a house of learning to enable manawhenua to practice tikanga and kawa, traditional practices, te reo Māori and teach tamariki and mokopuna important concepts and principles to ensure the indigenous traditions of the land are secure for the future.
Hadfield said the marae would be a valuable community asset for the future for community events, to cater for visitors coming to Taiharuru and the Whangārei Heads areas.
An artist's impression of what the new Taiharuru Marae will look like once completed.
"We would also like to establish a tourism hub for local businesses to offer authentic experiences in the unique coastal area of Taiharuru and are future planning the facility by including such things as electric vehicle charge stations in the carpark."
She said the hapū also wanted the marae to be a kaitiaki site to build knowledge and sustainable practices to manage our moana, whenua and waterways.
"Building Taiharuru Marae also provides Te Waiariki, Ngāti Korora hapū the opportunity to lay our dead in our wharenui and hold tangihanga according to our custom, rather than having to lay our dead in whānau garages or other marae.
"This will also provide a place for the community and Whangārei district to learn the tikanga and kawa of Te Waiariki customs and traditional practice in their whare, on their whenua and amongst their traditional landscapes.
"This is truly a gift to the future where we can help build confident and knowledgeable young tangata whenua, comfortable to walk in two worlds and contribute to both."
Hadfield said the marae would be built on what had been an under-invested rural, coastal community to provide multiple uses that would help build relationships and understanding among Māori and other non-Māori.
She said the marae committee would do a legacy wall for those who have died over the years.
