May 30, 2021
Occupation bringing together Ngaruawahia hapu
Occupiers of a pā site in Ngāruawahia are feeling their voices are starting to be listened to after a visit by Green Māori MP Teanau Tuiono.
Members of Ngāti Tamanuipō have been occupying Pukeiāhua pā for 390 days.
They have succeeded in getting a Waikato District Council commissioner to cancel a resource consent for earthworks at the site, and this month they launched a crown funding campaign to raise $1million to buy the whenua.
Spokesperson Kimai Huirama they we able to share with the MP the history of Pukeiāhua, which is the site of a feast marking a significant alliance between Ngāti Tamanuipō and Ngāti Maniapoto 300 years ago, and what the occupation has done for the hapū.
"So for the first time in 200 years we've had a space in Ngāruawahia to come together as a hapū to meet, to share mātauranga and whakapapa, and if it feels awesome," she says.
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