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The chair of Invercargill’s Murihiku Marae says a $9 million government investment from the government’s COVID Economic Recovery Fund will allow them to rebuild a marae complex fit for the future.
Cyril Gilroy says the marae at Waihopai was built to service not just mana whenua but the large number of Māori who came south for work at places like the Ocean Beach freezing works and stayed.
The whare kai completed in the early 1980s needs to be completely rebuilt because of asbestos concerns, and the money will also cover other meeting rooms, clinics, ancillary services and papakainga housing for kaumātua.
"This will be all things a pā was, but in a modern context. It will be open, fluid and adaptive to meet the needs of the post-COVID period and also the new world where COVID will still be apart of us." Mr Gilroy says.
Cyril Gilroy says whānau want the marae to make a statement and not be another colonised building.
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