Nelson to get Marae

Tu Tangata, Issue 7, 1 August 1982, Page 17

Nelson to get Marae

HE KUPU WHAKAMIHI/Profile

The target is finally in sight for Nelson’s Maori community. A marae of their own becomes daily more of a reality. “We have set our own homes in order, and we have come a long way,” stresses Andy Joseph who heads the Whakatu Multi Cultural Marae Committee. “The mana of the scheme in the Nelson province is now terrific,” says Mr Joseph of his group, an Incorporated Society. In fact the timber is ready for the meeting house, seven and a half thousand square feet plus 50 tons of logs. Loans have been organised. Construction is pending. For Nelson the marae is a strange dream that for so long has been so near yet so far. The marae is on .7 of a hectare in Nelson. The land was given to the Maori community by the Nelson City Council. But there was a problem. The land was re-claimed land, and many felt that this was simply not suitable for a marae. At all costs Those in favour said that the priority was for a marae at all costs. Still, the Nelson and district Maori community has nowwhere to lay their dead. Nowhere to hold a tangi. These are still held in private houses. The argument had see-sawed back and forth for years. At one stage it embroiled the Nelson City Council in a parAndy Joseph and wife Ramari on their hillside house overlooking the bay ... getting the project moving.

tisan contest. Then, two years ago independentminded Nelson businessman Andy Joseph was co-opted to do something about the clash of wills. Above all, to get the project moving. Andy Joseph had moved into Nelson from the outlying region just a year or two before. He wanted to be on hand while his children went through their secondary education. For the task A successful businessman in his own right, Joseph was considered the man for the task. Initially, as he puts it, most of his energies as president of the Whakatu Marae project were spent behind closed doors “making sure that everyone was pointed in the same direction.” This has now been achieved. In fact work has already started carving the gateposts. And the project represents numerous backgrouds. On the carving project are six Maori, six Pakeha, and a Chinaman. Later, the carving of the meeting house will be under the supervision of a mastercarver, who is still to be engaged. But the outlook is now positive. In June, the kaumatua blessed the materials, and gave the project their official go-ahead. And the marae committee is working other ways too. In May next year the committee will host the New Zealand Maori Golf Championships. More than 500 are expected. But it will be the completion of the meeting house that will give Nelson its first focal point for the Maori

community.

(Pani Waapu born 23-3-48 died 27-2-82).

A moderate man Died last Saturday... He wasn’t ta11... His shoulders were broad And his chest deep... His hair was black And defiantly curly... His eyes were dark Deep as the dark soft night... His voice was soft And he walked with A light springing step... His talents were many And he shared them As his gift to people... Song... Rhythm... Drama... Aroha in unmeasureable Quantity... All these he shared and more... The excitement of hockey... The encouraging of many... He was a butcher, And a union Secretary. He hated injustice; He fought, but with moderation... For he was a moderate man. A man who devoutly Loved his God... My friend of deep feeling... My grief is deep

No more will I see You coming down the street With that jaunty walk... No more will I listen And talk with you... Sharing with you, As if time had not Been, since we Last spoke... Sometimes months Were between But always it was only Yesterday... You and Dick, Singing the chant Telling the story OfWai-Ora... (1) You and Dick... again In that never-to-be forgotten Little play... “So good to be home.” (2) And now you’re just this... Home... among your people... Leaving others to carry on Your plans... your ideas... You’re not supposed to Stop in mid-track like that! Testing, were you? To see if we had Been listening?... Listen to our tears falling soft... Hear our heartbeats... Beating as one gigantic heart... Man of warm heart, Pani... Now stilled... We feel you near, On a different track Where we all one day Will f0110w... You have gone ahead Sign posting, no doubt, As usual... “Wood pigeon and fantail” (3) Farewell, farewell, farewell. Tuesday 2-3-82. Wendy Morgan (From "The Tide of Aroha”) 1. “Wai Ora” Pani and Dick Puanaki had grown up together and they performed together, in a musical expression on the Environment. 2. “So good to be home” a thought provoking play, in which both Pani and Dick appeared, with the Asterisk Theatre, Napier. 3. Reference to part of “Whakama” (Both “Wai Ora” and “Whakama” are from “The Tide of Aroha”).

A PATU FROM THE PAST.

A patu from the past is on my table lying, an ancient relic, discarded by a maori a century ago when the age in which he lived was dying and steel was taking place of wood and stone, and so waterlogged in river mud it stayed submerged ‘til dredging operations found it yesterday, now, scrubbed clean, it is on my table lying. A common wooden patu aruhe that prepared its owner’s meals a century ago, waterlogged manuka, half petrified by long immersion, an ancient wooden kitchen atifact, used by toiling stone age Maori, of no great value now, scarcely worth a silver coin, but brought once more to light of day, subject for a poem. Curio value only has this ancient patu aruhe pounder for preparing fern root a century ago softening fern root, bruising tawa seeds, cracking shells, a handy taputapu around the umu and the midden, until the owner, with the passing of the stone age cast it into the river down below. Brought again to light of day, this common wooden patu is treasured as a relic of that age, a century ago, when men in nature’s hard way sought their food, fought for every mouthful of existence, no knives, no flour, no sheep, no government dole, and even fought with one another, the weakest always dying, valued is this waterlogged, ancient relic, on my table lying.

Bernard Teague.

The Puriri Tree See how the young Puriri tree grows as with tender leaves he licks the sky The birth of all that seeks life is to me like this Puriri tree Surrounded by deaths darkness reaching beyond the night As with hope knewly born on each delicate stem he fights each day of life Apirana Taylor

PATTERNS They carried my ancestors ashore taught them to make a raupo hut smoked pipes on their doorstep. They sang us their waiata taught us about Ruahine and Ruataniwha taught us to heed the tapu, so show me the white line that sees the taniko woven on the water the moko on the tree trunks the koru of my mind. Lois Burleigh