Hokio Ngataierua-Tinirau said he supported the vision.
"The whakatauki 'Na te punga i kawe ai nga ngarehu a kainga' ('It is the punga that carries the burning embers home') speaks of leaving the humble punga to carry the aspirations and determination of the hapu from one place to the next.
"Our kainga hold our korero, and I acknowledge our kainga all the way down the river for making me what I am."
Tommy Treanor remembered Tieke leaders now gone, including Larry Ponga, Mark Cribb and Temo Ponga and those who helped drive the dream to revive Mangapapapa, including Paiki Johnson. He acknowledged the words "Ko au te awa, ko te awa ko au" ("I am the river and the river is me") and also "Ko au te ngahere, ko te ngahere ko tatou katoa" ("I am the forest and the forest is us all").
Building committee chair Arthur Edmonds said the remote location presented infrastructure challenges, including water supply and toilet systems. An engineer had been consulted.
The first stage will include fencing, a water system, toilets and a temporary shelter. Stage two will include a kitchen and meeting house. The aim was to provide shelter, water and facilities, and to bring home the annual iwi river wnanga, the Tira Hoe Waka.
"The Tira usually stays upriver at the John Coull DoC hut, but we want our people back here to wananga, to rest and to be at home where they belong," Mr Edmonds said.
Rihi Ponga said she wanted Mangapapapa to be a refuge.
"I look at those of us who have been involved in the Treaty claims process, and I see how devastating that has been. We're tired - I want this to be a place for us to come home and rest."
Decisions needed to be supported by the whanau collectively, she said.
Robert (Boy) Cribb said whanau had been working with DoC to ensure regeneration of the ancestral kainga could be supported.
"Following the Waitangi Tribunal's Whanganui Land Inquiry report released last month, we can be confident our wahi tapu will return to us at some point. For now, we must be realistic about what we can afford and achieve."
Mr Cribb said it was good to see young people involved. A team, under the guidance of George Matthews, spent the weekend doing some groundwork and others cleared overgrowth earlier in the week.
"Thank you for getting us under way. This is well overdue, and I say don't leave this as a dream - make this dream a reality. The team and the time is right - if we're going to move, move together."
George Matthews said it was time to start handing over the mantle: "The challenge for us old ones is to ensure our young ones share our collective vision."
Mr Matthews acknowledged the wairua (spirituality) of Mangapapapa and pledged his support.
Uenuku chair Aiden Gilbert said Mangapapapa was a model for the people. He remembered being there as a young man on the earliest iwi river trips when Harold and Minnie Haitana and others were occupying the marae to stop local authorities from taking land including Mangapapapa.
"There is nowhere like it," Mr Gilbert said. "Following Tieke in the 1990s, this was another place where Whanganui river Mori - Ngti Kponga - made a stand, where Uncle Harry as pou mangai (spokesperson) held the ground. Those efforts and that fight were the new beginnings of Mangapapapa, those were the people who brought us back."
