Opening of Te Tauraka Waka a Māui marae

On Sunday 23 January 2005 at 4.30 am, a long-held dream was finally realized as more than 1000 people assembled in pitch darkness. It was as if time stood still, with only the flashing of traffic control lights and the torchlight of our DoC parking wardens guiding people through the rolling sea mist shrouding State Highway 6 at Mahitahi (Bruce Bay), and the crashing surf providing the only sound.

When the first of the karakia led by our Deputy Ūpoko, Richard Wallace, rang out into the darkness, the silent thousand moved, then paused with each karakia led by Tohunga Te Ao Peehi Kara and Riki Pitama, working their way through the bush walk, to the waharoa, then on to the marae atea towards our whare tipuna.

When the question was asked, "Ko wai te ingoa o te whare?", taua Alma Bergman responded, "Ko Kaipō!"
What is the name of the house? Kaipō!

Moving forward onto the mahau and led into the whare by our puhi, Hinepounamu Barr (beautiful moko of Stuart and Sue Barr), the chant of karakia continued to fill the air; black light and the green tint of light through pounamu offering only a teasing image of what was inside.

There was an audible gasp from those still outside the whare as floodlights lit up, revealing our wharenui, Kaipō, in all its glory, and, like an echo, gasps continued as each of the thousand left the darkness of the waharoa and entered into the light.

Breakfast passed in a blur as the thousand plus were fed and we prepared for the officials' pōwhiri due at 11.00 am.

Prime Minister Helen Clark had agreed to open the marae for us, but was unable to get to the bay, with heavy cloud restricting her flight from Hokitika. Although the PM didn't make it, her shoes were well-filled by Parekura Horomia, who proclaimed the wharenui "as beautiful as any in the country."

Gifts were given to Parekura — beautiful glass sculptures by Barry Wilson and white stone and aotea crafted by Bevan Climo — as mementos of this great occasion.

The hākari that followed seemed to hit the spot, and was sufficient to meet the many mouths that needed to be fed.

The official ceremonies complete and everyone fed, our workers, many who had been working solidly for two days, continued to work, washing dishes and starting the clean-up process. Others lingered in Kaipō to listen to the stories of the wharenui.

Marae project coordinator, Mere Wallace said, "I was proud to work with people who were able to manage their areas with little supervision; this made my job so much easier. There are many people that need to be thanked for the work they did. We tried to acknowledge as many as we could in the marae opening booklet that we published and sold on the day, but know that we still missed people out. To all of those people who came on board at the last minute to give us a hand — people like the Koukou boys who worked like troopers erecting tents and cooking for us; Sparky (Rodney Trainor) a jack-of-all-trades who slogged to make sure everything electrical worked; our florists from Rapaki; the bakers from throughout the motu who kept our tea tent stocked with goodies; TPK, CEG and DoC staff who worked tirelessly for us; and all of those other unsung heroes who contributed to what was an absolutely fantastic day — I can never thank you all enough."

No time for rest, Monday dawned and with whānau due to descend on the marae for a Kawe Mate ceremony, it was all hands to the deck once more.

It was wonderful to see Kaipō bursting at the seams with Kāti Māhaki whānau. A comment from one of the speakers said tongue in cheek:"We built this whare for our whānau: already it is too small!"

The ceremony honouring our whānau who have left this world was followed by the christening of Karera Maria Pikara Wallace, daughter of our rūnanga tumuaki, Susan, between the carvings of Karera (Korera) and Pikara, bringing us back to the world of the living. Fitting celebrations!

Last modified: 27 November 2007