February 26, 2024
Portage Crossing mauri back with Tainui
Waka ama teams from throughout Tamaki Makaurau have reenacted the hauling of the Tainui waka from Te Waitemata to the Manukau Harbour.
The 32nd Portage Crossing started at dawn on Saturday with karakia at Ōkahu Bay and ended at Māngere Bridge where a ceremony was held to transfer the event’s mauri from the Manukau Urban Māori Authority to Te Kei o te waka Tainui.
MUMA chair Bernie O’Donnell says it was time to return the story back to mana whenua.
“To be the kaitiaki of this kaupapa has indeed been an honour in terms of making sure that we treated it with the respect and the mana that it deserves. But it was always a little bit out of whack for us in terms of who we are as MUMA. And so there was, there needed to be a time where we could hand this over to mana whenua so they could sort of look after it mo ake, ake, ake,” he says