November 20, 2023
Quick thinking got marae moving
The whare that fell off the back of a truck is back on a truck and moving, 40 years later.
Tutahi Tonu, the marae at the former teacher training college at Auckland University’s Epsom campus was put to sleep at the weekend.
The carvings and fittings will be relocated to the faculty’s new city campus.
Auckland university director of Māori Medium Education,
Hēmi Dale, the university’s director of Māori medium education, says when the pre-fab classroom arrived on site in 1983 it was destined for another department – until former lecturer Tarutaru Rankin stepped in to help the delivery driver.
“So quick-thinking Taru said ‘you’re in the right place!’ He got on the phone and rang Hāre Tāwhai to come from Mangere to bless the ground. And the person on the truck organised himself to take the classroom off the back of the truck – and the rest is history” Mr Dale says.
The wharenui’s history will be part of a book that will be published when it is re-opened in Matariki next year