Grants worth $1.3m for marae

Friday, 2 July 2010, 9:37 am
Press Release: ASB

PRESS RELEASE
1/7/10

Grants worth $1.3m for marae

More than $1.3m worth of grants were approved for marae improvement projects at the latest meeting of the ASB Community Trust Board.

“We recognise the special role of the marae to the communities in our region, therefore each year part of our community funding goes towards marae building improvements and renovations,” said ASB Community Trust CEO Jennifer Gill.

Grants include $549,532 to help complete a contemporary marae and a 17th Century traditional marae complex at Te Hana, near Wellsford. The project allows visitors to see both the old and the new world of Māori.

“This project creates educational and employment opportunities for the district,” says Ms. Gill. “Planning and construction of both the traditional and contemporary marae over the past seven years has already resulted in substantial benefits to the local community. The town has been beautified, newly planted native trees have become established and educational courses are being offered, many of them free to the community.”

Another project to gain funding approval was Mataitaua Marae, at Horeke in the Hokianga. A grant of $263,549 will help rebuild the wharekai and wharepaku (dining room and restrooms) that were destroyed by fire in 2004.

In Whangarei, Taiharuru Marae was granted $151,744 for retaining work and a new wharepaku, and Terenga Paraoa Marae was granted $93,200 to improve its wharenui (meeting house) and wharekai.

Waikare Marae in Kawakawa was granted $120,350 toward a new wharekai, and Rawhitiroa Marae in Te Ahuahu, near Kaikohe, was granted $88,000 to complete its major development project. Meanwhile in Auckland, Te Atatu Tutangata’s Kotuku Marae was granted $41,348 for a wharepaku upgrade.

A project to map all marae in Auckland and Te Tai Tokerau was also supported, with a $44,300 grant approved for Te Potiki National Trust. The national trust, founded by Professor Paul Tapsell and Rereata Makiha, is collecting GPS data, photographs and working with iwi to capture information on marae throughout the Auckland and Northland regions.

(ENDS)

© Scoop Media

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