Curriculum links
Learning areas
- Social Studies
- The Arts - Visual Arts
- Mathematics
Which strands will it fit with?
- Social Studies - Place and Environment, Identity, Culture, and Organisation
- The Arts - Understanding the Visual Arts in Context
- Mathematics - Geometry
Key Competencies
Thinking, Relating to others, Using language, symbols, and text, Participating and contributing.
Levels of achievement
Levels 1-8
Year group
Years 1-13
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Which topics of study can it support?
- Pūrākau - Storytelling
- Innovation and Invention
- Mathematics and Society
- New Zealand Art and Artists
How long might this take?
Allow 15-20 minutes to explore all the different parts of The Marae.
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Where do I find it?
Why should I take my class to visit this?
- A unique marae concept and design.
- A fantastic example of using modern art techniques to tell traditional stories.
- A living, working marae to call your own.
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What is there to do there?
- Go up to the wharenui (meeting house), right up to the back wall, and look at the designs.
- Use the rubbing block to fill out your own whakapapa (genealogy) sheet at the desk in the wharenui.
- If the weather is fine, go outside to the waharoa (gateway), and look at all the different carvings on the gate, and check out the artworks in the Te Ati Awa gateway on your way out.
- Notice the flag flying. The flag outside Te Papa’s Marae signals the iwi (tribe) in residence in the iwi exhibition, and also indicates the kawa or protocol used on The Marae during a pōwhiri, or Māori welcoming ceremony.
- Check out the brochures and the stand-alone information panel to find out the whakapapa of Rongomaraeroa, Te Papa’s Marae.
- Do the pōwhiri (Māori welcoming ceremony) interactive.
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What should I know about this?
- Rongomaraeroa, Te Papa’s Marae, is the creation of master carver Cliff Whiting and the Māori advisory group to Te Papa, Ngā Kaiwawao, who came up with the concept to develop a fully functional marae, which would embrace the concept of mana taonga and the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. The official opening was on 30 November 1997.
- The name of Te Papa’s Marae, Rongomaraeroa, comes from the name given to a place in the heavens by the atua, or Māori gods, where they could meet in peace to discuss and settle issues.
- The name of the wharenui (meeting house) is Te Hono Ki Hawaiki, meaning the links to Hawaiki, the traditional homelands of the Māori. The kinship groups it represents encompass all the iwi and other cultures whose treasures and stories are held at Te Papa. This is particularly shown by the carving of the traditional story of Maui taming the sun, as depicted on the maihi (arms of the meeting house). Maui is an important figure in many Polynesian cultures.
- The stained glass door, made by Robert Jahnke, represents Ranginui, the sky father, and the tiled flooring, designed by Kura Te Waru Rewiri, depicts Papatūānuku, the Earth mother. When the stained glass door is opened (it is pushed upward), it re-enacts the traditional Māori story of the separation of Ranginui and Papatūānuku. The tukutuku, or woven panels, on the walls were made by students from Toi Haukura, the Māori School of Design at the Tairawhiti Polytechnic in Gisborne.
- There are other Māori stories depicted along the roof of the meeting house, such as the creation of the first woman, Hineahuone (the woman made from sand), by her father Tāne Mahuta, the god of the forest, represented in the doorway of the meeting house. The story of Maui the trickster turning his brother-in-law, Irawaru, into a dog, and the story of Paikea the whale are also depicted inside the meeting house.
- New Zealand’s other cultures are represented along the back wall of the meeting house, and the changing relationship between Māori and Pākehā is portrayed inside the cupboards housed in the poutokomanawa (the central heart post of the meeting house).
Possible topics for discussion
- Rongomaraeroa is your Marae. What do you like about it?
- How does Rongomaraeroa compare with Te Hau Ki Turanga (a more traditional wharenui, or meeting house, which is close by in the Mana Whenua exhibition on Level 4)? Focus around the idea of using contemporary materials to tell traditional stories; compare and contrast techniques and effectiveness.
- Do you recognise any of the stories and other artworks in the wharenui? In particular, Ranginui and Papatūānuku, Maui, Tāne Mahuta. Can you see any others?
- Can you recognise any of the jobs in the back panels of the wharenui - do these relate to you and your family?
- What do you think the colours represent? Why did the artist choose these colours? The bright and beautiful colours are the same colours that our ancestors would have seen in their own environment, such as the colours of flora and fauna, native birds, clay and mud, rock, in the rays of the sun, and in the colours of the rainbow.
- Name the different parts of The Marae and wharenui. The main parts are the tekoteko (head), the maihi (arms), the amo (legs), the tāhuhu (backbone), the heke (ribs), and the poutokomanawa (central heart post).
- What are the wharenui carvings made of? Why? It was decided to use custom wood, or MDF, instead of using traditional, native timbers, such as tōtara, as students mostly made the carvings, so native timbers would not be wasted if mistakes were made.
- Can you see or find any repeating patterns or sequences? What shapes have been used? Are they two dimensional or three dimensional?
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- Te Hau ki Turanga wharenui (meeting house) from the Rongowhakaata iwi, located in the Mana Whenua exhibition, Level 4.
- Te Takinga pataka kai (food store house) from the Ngāti Pikiao hapū (sub-tribe), located in the Mana Whenua exhibition, Level 4.
- Mākōtukutuku wharepuni (sleeping house), from the Ngāti Hinewaka hapū, located in the Mana Whenua exhibition, Level 4.
- Te Huka ā Tai Discovery Centre, located in Mana Whenua, Level 4. Check out the marae-building puzzle, the books in the library, or the resources on the computers in the research room.
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