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1.
Mr Puhirake Ihaka – Ngāti
Tapu Hapū
·
Mr Puhirake Ihaka acknowledged ancestors of
the wharenui and provided an introduction to the presentation.
2.
Ms Emily Gudsell – Ngāti
Tapu Hapū
Waikari Marae
Project
·
The formal and informal hapū structure
was as follows, beginning from the top:
o
The taumata kaumatua, who oversaw the tikanga,
kawa and operations taking place on the marae.
o
The Ngāti Tapu Hapū Trust, established
for the hapū’s raupatu settlement claims.
o
The Waikari Marae Committee, working alongside
kaumatua and the Trust, was a working party responsible for the operations of
the marae.
o
The recently established Kahumoeangi Trust was
to enable the hapū to look at other avenues for funding to further
enhance the marae.
·
Ms Gudsell was the secretary for the
Ngāti Tapu Hapū Trust, the Chairperson of the Kahumoeangi Trust
(soon to be a charitable trust) and was on the Marae Committee.
·
Everyone was involved at all levels within the
hapū structure for the betterment of the marae. It was very rewarding
work and was important in terms of learning about culture and identity.
·
The building and property upgrades being
undertaken at Waikari Marae were an ongoing dialogue. Marae were humble
places were whanau came to mourn the loss of loved ones, to celebrate and
learn, and were a safe place for Māori.
·
Strategies had been put in place to improve
the property, starting with a comprehensive building condition inspection of
the wharekai, completed in October 2023. This helped to settled
whanau’s thoughts around the building, as the assessment revealed it
had good foundations but was also in need of a refurbishment. This provided a
basis for what was required and how to move forward. Next steps were to
engage contractors to provide quotes for work and to apply for funding to
help realise this project.
·
Another project was the rebuild of the garage
in the car park which would also have an office for Hauora. The HbU
Mobile Health Waka operated at Waikari Marae from six o’clock to nine
o’clock every Monday night, providing a free doctor and nurse walk-in
clinic. The new office would provide a warm and dry environment
when needed for an overflow of patients.
·
The marae had a monthly maintenance schedule
in place where whanau assisted with urupa upkeep, and the overall upkeep and
care of the wharenui, other buildings and gardens on the marae. This
enabled a continuous connection with whanau and the marae.
·
The wharenui restoration project was more long
term and was a very comprehensive plan around its care and protection.
3.
Mr Puhirake Ihaka
Waikari Marae
Project
·
Ngāti Tapu Hapū had been wanting to
do the wharenui restoration project for a very long time. There were po that
had not been carved.
·
Some aspects of this wharenui were original
carvings thought to be dated at around 3 to 4 hundred years old.
·
The original location and pa site of this
wharenui was at the bottom of Matapihi Road next to the railway bridge,
called Te Mania.
·
The poutoko manawa (carved post found at the
centre of the wharenui) was moved from the original pa site to Waikari.
Everything else had been built between 1870 and 1881.
·
The carvings on the front exterior of the
wharenui were done in 1960/1970 by a local carver. However, the project
was never finished due to the carver’s passing.
·
A significant part of this project was to carve
the po inside the wharenui and was very important for the hapū. It was
hoped this would start soon. There was good resourcing around carvers
needed for this job.
Papakāinga
·
In 2008 and 2009, hapū had a
‘Matapihi Land Use Plan’ that covered designated Papakāinga
areas. This plan was not fulfilled but it was now time to revisit this.
·
In 2015 a Hapū Management Plan was
established. This would now be combined with the Matapihi Land Use Plan, both
would be upgraded and would become the ‘Matapihi Community Plan’,
to be used jointly alongside Ngai Tukairangi hapū/Hungahungatoroa
Marae.
·
Discussions had started between the two
hapū, with a combined committee to be formed.
·
The purpose of the Matapihi Community Plan was to fulfil the aspirations of its
people by being able to come home and live on their land. It was up to
hapū members to realise these aspirations.
Southern Pipeline Update
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Expansion of the pipeline to reach new housing
development, zoning and costs had been discussed at the last
meeting.
·
There were certain stations along the pipeline
where extensions could be added. In order for these extensions to be
activated, there had to be more houses.
·
When the pipeline was upgraded, the kura, the
two marae and the houses within that corridor were connected to the
pipeline.
·
Planning needed to start now between the two
hapū to realise the ambition of more housing.
4.
Ms Ngareta Timutimu - Toitu te Moana
– Toitu te Whenua – Toitū te Mokopuna
·
This was a Māori led project to empower
the Matapihi community to navigate the challenges of climate change and was
the culmination of 14 months’ work.
·
This report came out of thinking about the
future of our Matapihi mokopuna, and the future of the taiao. It seemed that
not enough was being done about Matapihi, in particular about the mangroves
and the black swans embedded in Waipu Bay.
·
Mr Hayden Henare and Ms Kiamaia Ellis were
kaitiaki taiao and did the mahi for the marae, hapū, whanau and Tauranga
Moana.
·
Whareroa Marae/Ngāti Kuku hapū, who
were leading the way in terms of climate change challenges, was acknowledged.
·
This Kaupapa was a culmination of intensive
consultation of the three marae communities and had been opened to the
hapori.
·
This was an opportunity for the Matapihi
community to bring back its mana motuhake.
·
Matapihi could be seen as a community that had
been suffocated by the Port of Tauranga, and other entities, but had not
spoken out or participated strongly enough as tangata whenua.
·
Many of the strong, skilled leaders of
Matapihi filled important positions at a local, regional and national
level. They carried the voices of the Matapihi community.
·
The question arose as to who was looking after
the Matapihi whenua, the mangroves, the puna that had almost disappeared from
Matapihi, the soil that had been some of the best in the country and the
health of our whenua and moana, our oranga whenua, oranga taiao and oranga
tangata.
·
The Covid-19 lockdown period in 2020 raised an
awareness of how important it was for the Matapihi community to be connecting
and sharing within their Papakāinga, and to strengthen activities such
as food growing that the parents and grandparents of Matapihi had survived
on. Soil and puna were key to this.
·
This report was written by Ms Elva Conroy of
Conroy/Donald Consultants, who was provided with all the information gathered
at the wānanga that included pictures, films and interviews.
·
Hei Mataphihi ki te Ao could be called a
‘kiwaha’ (a special group of words put together).
This connected cultural practice, taonga and values as a way of expressing
the māori world view.
·
Hei Mataphihi ki te Reo was to express the
importance of Reo. Te reo was a window to the Māori world and provided a
foundation for going out into the world and to contribute, learn and share. All
three marae needed to be a part of this.
·
It was important that whanau and the whole
community had an opportunity to share their views on this Kaupapa.
·
The challenge was what counted as matauranga
(knowledge) and tikanga within the Matapihi community in today’s
world. These were challenges for many marae, often due to earlier
generations not growing up speaking Te Reo.
·
The report included a summary and pictures of
the four wānanga that were held at Hungahungatoroa Marae, Whareroa
Marae, Waikari Marae and Hungahungatoroa Club.
·
Artists impressions provided in the report
supported the connection to whenua.
In response
to questions
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The most pressing matter that Council could assist
the Matapihi community with was the mangroves. The area around
Oruamatua was filled with them, and would eventually extend out to Rangataua
Bay. Waipu Bay was special to the two hapū because it was the
pathway to the wairua of the people. At a particular hikoi held at
Whareroa Marae, there were conflicting views about mangroves and their effect
on the environment. More knowledge was needed and more stories needed
to be heard about how some communities were successfully managing mangroves.
·
The return of puna in Matapihi was another
matter that Council could help the community with perhaps by looking at the
water table in Matapihi. It was about looking at how orchard spraying
affected the quality of water, but also ensuring the community had quality
water.
·
A project coordinator or similar resource
would be needed to implement the recommendations as set out in ‘Next
Steps’ in the report.
·
Whanau were not connected or involved enough
in communication and were therefore not contributing when they actually had a
lot to contribute. Hapū had to take responsibility for themselves or no
progress would be made. Mana motuhake and tirohanga tikanga were
extremely important.
·
This report belonged to the community and it
was important that the community continued to seek connections and
partnerships with Tauranga City Council as its number one kaitiaki. The
Matapihi community needed to reach out to TCC as its first port of
call. Bay of Plenty Regional Council had also been involved in this
project.
·
A kaumatua had advised that the puna found in
Matapihi in earlier times filtered pollutants out of the water before it entered
the moana, but because the puna had disappeared, this filtering process no
longer happened.
Discussion
points raised
·
The report was a great piece of work and was
to be congratulated.
·
It was agreed that the mangroves were a matter
that needed attention, however, this was just the tip of the iceberg in terms
of the many other aspects that came into it such as run-off from orchard, land
use, birds and fish.
·
To note was that when the mangroves were taken
out at Pirirakau, the water became muddy and kai was lost.
·
This was a very good piece of work and would
contribute greatly to the Matapihi Land Use Plan in terms of informing the
plan of places that were susceptible to the impacts of climate risk and land
changes that included erosion, inundation, rainfall and flooding. It also
provided a base layer for where and how to plan and develop housing for the
future.
·
It was noted that a resource consent was
needed to enable the removal of mangroves.
Mr Carlo
Ellis - Manager: Strategic Māori
Engagement
·
The Takawaenga
Māori Unit at TCC were discussing ways in which it could get
involved and support this kaupapa and find support from other departments
such as the sustainability team.
·
Thank you to all the teams and people from
other councils who came to the four wānanga.
·
There was definitely a debate to be had as to
whether or not the mangroves should be removed.
·
TCC’s Stormwater Team could be
approached to see what could be done regarding the puna in Matapihi.
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