Polynesian Cultural Centre

Te Ao Hou, November 1964, Page 40

Polynesian Cultural Centre At Laie, opposite Honolulu on the island of Oahu (though not the largest of the Hawaiian Islands, this is the one to which most tourists go), the Mormon Church has completed an ambitious project known as the Polynesian Cultural Centre. It is a showplace where the heritage and customs of the Polynesia of yesterday and of today are presented in an authentic setting to the people who, six days a week, visit it in their hundreds, sometimes in their thousands. With jagged, cloud-wreathed mountain peaks as a natural backdrop, young Maoris from New Zealand, along with their first cousins from Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti and also Fiji, have come together to present ancient arts, crafts, dances and building techniques. During the summer tourist season (from July to September) the buildings in the village are peopled by islanders demonstrating and lecturing on various aspects of their culture. The Samoan exhibit features a council house, a community meeting-house (said to be the largest ever built) and a sleeping house. The Fijians have built a chief's house, a council building and a commoner's dwelling. The centrepiece of Tahiti's exhibit is a spectacular chief's house made in the shape of a perfect cone. There is also a Tahitian Queen's home, a community council house and a small fishing Joseph Tengaio, left, and Mrs Meitau Mackay polish up their technique with tips from Hollywood choreographer Jack Regas at Hawaii's Polynesian Cultural Centre. storehouse on stilts. Hawaii has a chief's house, a fisherman's home (on stilts near the artificial lake which is the centrepiece of the Cultural Centre) and other simple native homes. The Tongans have built a replica of Queen Salote's summer palace, and there are also other Tongan dwellings, with their gracefully curved roofs and rounded corners.