ABOUT
AWHI MAI,
AWHI ATU
Te Āwhina Marae has always been a home for all - a place for māta waka and the wider community. Our iwi are Ngāti Rārua and Te Ātiawa o te Waka-ā-Māui and we carry strong associations to Wakatū Incorporation and Whakarewa - Te Whānau o Motueka. We are located on Pah St, Motueka, on land reserved for Māori as part of the Nelson Tenths land deals made prior to the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 1840. But our association with the whenua goes back long before then.
OUR HISTORY
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War and conflict in the North saw our Ngāti Rārua and Te Ātiawa tūpuna journey from Kawhia and Taranaki to Te Tauihu during the 1820s.
By the 1830s, after a series of migrations and conquests lasting six years, our tūpuna had settled in the regions of Riuwaka, Motueka, and Mārahau.
The first Māori church in the Motueka area, Te Awa Mate (Te Āmate), is established the following decade (circa 1830s), not far from where the marae stands today.
Land deals are struck between Māori and a private British company called the New Zealand Company to allow for the settlement of Nelson. Under the agreement, one-tenth of all land purchased from Māori across Te Tauihu was to be set aside for the benefits of the Māori vendors (the Nelson Tenths Reserves). That never happened. The Nelson Tenths agreement, which has stood up in many courts of law over centuries, was never honoured. Our tūpuna became landless. As of 2024, the Nelson Tenths case remains the country's longest-running property dispute.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi is signed in 1840.
Te Āhurewa is built in 1897, replacing Te Awa Mate, which burnt down.
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By the 1940s, the fertile land of Te Maatu is home to crops such as tobacco, hops, and fruit. Post World War II, Māori from all over Aotearoa gravitate to the region for seasonal work in the gardens. Social gatherings and whanaungatanga become a part of communal life.
Te Āwhina Community Hall is officially opened on March 21, 1959, adjacent to Te Āhurewa, in an old school building that was gifted to the Māori community. Together, ahi kā and māta waka use this opportunity to establish a tūrangawaewae for the people.
In 1977, title of the land the marae sits on is transferred to Wakatū Incorporation after the government agreed to return remnants of the Nelson Tenths Reserves to the descendants of 300 customary owners.
In 1981 at the unveiling of the pou haki (flagpole) gifted by cherished supporter and school teacher, Ms Laura Ingram, the name Te Āwhina is consecrated as the name for our marae. Te Āwhina means to support, to care, to embrace, and nurture.
During the 1980s, trades and education courses offer new opportunities for whānau and the marae. Further old government buildings set to be demolished are acquired and renovated for offices, a health centre, carving room, music room, kōkiri, and other ancillary requirements.
In 1984 Te Kohanga Reo o Te Āwhina is opened.
A carving school with six tauira is established in 1987 under the tutelage of Tohunga Whakairo John Mutu (Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāti Tama).
In 1990 the wharenui Tūrangāpeke is opened.
In 1992, six Kaumātua Flats are completed and the pā is re-established.
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By the early 2000s, it had become clear the marae would outgrow its facilities and redevelopment is on the agenda.
Marae redevelopment discussions formalised in early 2010s.
A master plan for a four-stage redevelopment of the marae is adopted in 2019.
A marae business case for a 20-home Pakakāinga is developed in 2021. Work starts after whenua is secured from Wakatū Incorporation with the blessing of owners and primary investment is secured from Te Puni Kōkiri in 2022.
In early 2023, Te Ara Toki moves out of an small classroom in the old office block and into its own dedicated building.
In April 2023, construction of a new 20-home Papakāinga on Wakatū Incorporation land behind the marae begins.
By March 2024, the Papakāinga is complete and fully tenanted by our whānau, realising a long-held dream to provide a place for our whānau to come home to.
Ko Pukeone, ko Tū Ao Wharepapa ngā Maunga
Ko Motueka te awa
Ko Ngāti Rārua, ko Te Ātiawa ngā iwi
Ko Te Āwhina te marae
Ko Turangāpeke te wharetupuna
Ka tuku ngā reo whakatau ki a koe
e tae mai ana ki te ipurangi o
Te Āwhina
nau mai, i haere mai.
Piki mai i runga i te aroha o tātou
te hau kainga.
Āpiti hono, tatai hono rātou ki a rātou tātou ki a tātou
Tēnā tātou katoa
KAWA
The kawa for Te Āwhina Marae is Tae Nga Kawa, which blends the distinct traditions of our iwi, Ngāti Rārua and Te Ātiawa o te Waka-a-Māui. The tangata whenua start with their whaikōrero, the manuhiri put forward all their speakers and when they have finished the tangata whenua provide the final whaikōrero.
OUR TOHU
The two leading figures represent our iwi, Ngāti Rārua and Te Ātiawa o te Waka-a-Māui. Hoturoa, at the right, was the captain of the Tainui waka, from which Ngāti Rārua people descend. Awangaiariki, on the left, was the navigator of the Tokomaru waka, from which Te Ātiawa people descend.
The small face at the bottom is Turangāpeke, an important ancestor for whom our wharenui is named. The encompassing circle depicts the embracing of all people and all cultures.
TURANGĀPEKE
Our wharenui, Turangāpeke, was carved by Tohunga Whaikairo John Mutu (Ngati Mutunga, Ngāti Tama) and opened in 1990.
The wharenui is named for the 16th century Ngāti Rārua chief who through his mother Kahumoana held Te Ātiawa descent. Turangāpeke lived his life in the Kawhia district and throughout his youth he was close to his uncle, Toarangatira. Over time, the descendants of these great Tainui chiefs became known by the proverbial saying “Ngā uri a Toarangatira rāua ko Turangāpeke, taonga hoatu noa atu,” a reference to the ability of these people to give without expecting anything in return.
Turangāpeke is carved and woven full of the stories of our people. Many of the Kōwhaiwhai and Tukutuku panels were created by students attending courses at Te Āwhina under the guidance of skilled kaumātua.
Turangāpeke can sleep up to 40 adults and seat up to 120 people.
TE AHUREWA
Te Ahurewa is one of the oldest buildings still standing in Te Tauihu. Built in 1897, It was the first modern building at the site of Te Āwhina Marae and replaced Te Awa Mate (Te Āmate), the first Māori church in the area. Te Awa Mate was located just north of the pā, near the Awa Mate tributary of the Motueka River, but was destroyed by fire. A memorial plaque noting its location can still be found close to the roadside on Pah St today.
The driving force behind Te Ahurewa was Anglican priest Fredrick Augustus Bennett (1871-1950), who would later go on to become the first Māori bishop of New Zealand. Bennett was raised in Maketū and Rotorua but spent his teenage years studying in Nelson after being taken under the wing of Bishop Andrew Burn Suter. Bennett was ordained a deacon in Nelson Cathedral in 1896. The next year he was made a priest and served across the Nelson district until the turn of the century; it was during this period Te Ahurewa was built.
Te Ahurewa was designed in the Victorian Free Gothic style by architect T Robert and built by Andrew Miller. The £100 needed for building materials was raised by our tūpuna, who put on concerts and travelled by train to Whakatū to sell kete and other handicrafts for the cause.
The name Te Ahurewa was given by Te Ātiawa tupuna Huta Paaka (1850-1927), who was deeply involved in the Anglican church. He is noted on a memorial tablet at Te Ahurewa as “Synodsman and Whakarewa Trustee”.
Notably, in 1899, Bennett married Hana Te Unuhi Mere Paaka (Hannah Mary Park) of Te Ātiawa at Te Āhurewa. While Bennett’s work eventually took him away from Te Tauihu, he continued to take an active interest and stayed in contact with the Te Ahurewa community. His final visit was in 1947 for the church’s jubilee. In 1958, the church community built a memorial gate to mark 100 years of friendship between Māori and Pākehā in the area, dedicating this to Bennett. Today, it still stands proudly in remembrance.
Also of note is a northern rātā planted next to the church by well-known Chatham Islands farmer Tame Horomana Rehe (Moriori), also known as Tommy Solomon, as a gift on his last voyage to the region before his death in 1933.
By the late 1970s, poor ventilation and drainage had taken its toll on Te Ahurewa. In 1978 the altar stage and front flooring were replaced and throughout the 1980s, after being granted Category 2 Historic Place status by Pouhere Taonga | Heritage New Zealand, various other work was carried out in piecemeal, including the repair of the exterior walls and new flooring, initially in the vestry and then throughout the church.
On March 29, 1997, to mark the centenary of Te Ahurewa, the land on which it stands was handed back into the ownership of Ngāti Rārua Te Ātiawa Iwi Trust (Whakarewa) by the Wesleyan Church of Motueka. Since then, Te Ahurewa has been managed by the Motueka Māori Committee in conjunction with Te Āwhina Marae.
This historic and much loved building continued to host an Anglican church service every third Sunday of the month up until 2022, when it was closed to allow for repairs. It is hoped this work will be completed in 2024.
TE ĀWHINA WHAREKAI
The Wharekai (dining hall) at Te Āwhina Marae opened in 1958 as the Te Āwhina Community Hall. In those days, there was nowhere for Māori to gather, so the hall was a place where our people, in particular the seasonal workers who had come from all over the country to harvest tobacco and hops, could come together.
The building was originally part of Hau - a side school of Motueka District School, which was split off to become Parklands School in 1956 - and was gifted to our local Māori community. Together, ahi kā and māta waka seized this opportunity to establish a tūrangawaewae for their people.
Since then, hundreds of thousands of whānau and manuhiri from near and far have experienced the signature Te Āwhina manaakitanga within the walls of this humble building.
The Wharekai can seat 150 people.
