Te Rauparaha's necklace: fires and rockets

A Porirua City Councillor wants his council to establish a new annual celebration to promote Porirua City.

Councillor Robert Shaw said the city needs an event that shows a point of difference with what is offered elsewhere.

We should establish an annual event - the lighting of Te Rauparaha's necklace.

This would involve having fires and fireworks on ten hill tops around the City.

Te Rauparaha is the Chief of the Ngati-Toa tribe who was born in 1768 and died in 1849. He was known as the "Napoleon of the Pacific".

One of the reasons he was so successful was his system of communication. Warriers would light bonfires on 10 hill tops between Tawa and Kapiti and these would warn him of trouble.

Apart from the promotional side, it would offer a superb opportunity to pay proper tribute to the man who was probably the greatest leader in our City.

The Te Rauparaha haka is rightly the property of the Ngati Toa and they could be invited to develop this aspect of the celebration.

There is an opportunity to make history alive for children and adults. There are important educational aspects to this proposal.

Porirua City Council should seek to work in partnership with the Ngati Toa to organize the event.

Different community and commercial groups could be responsible for different hill tops. An event like this could involve a very large number of people.

Council would have to negotiate arrangements with land owners.

I have asked that this project be considered in the as the Council develops its ten-year plan.

I hope we can develop a business plan for this, working with our commercial sector, and ultimately it is something that Porirua will be famous for.

© Scoop Media