Te Kereme:
This page features extracts from a recorded interview with Dr. Terry Ryan speaking about Rēhua Marae.
Dr.
Terry Ryan is the Secretary of Rēhua Marae. In 2004 he
marked 30 years as the Kāwai Kaitiaki of Ngāi Tahu Whakapapa
(an acknowledged authority on the contemporary whakapapa of
the Ngāi Tahu people). In 2001 he received an honorary
Doctorate of Science Degree for his contributions to genealogy
and in 1994 he was awarded the MBE on the Queen’s Honour
List ‘for services to the Māori community of the
South Island’. He is the Kaumatua for Christchurch City
Libraries.
Amid the stately character homes and modern
townhouse developments of Christchurch's Springfield Road sits
Rēhua Marae. Flourishing tī kōuka and harakeke
mark the driveway and entrance to the marae. Visible from the
street are glimpses of the deep red carved barge boards and
ridgepole of Rēhua's wharenui Whatu Manawa Māoritanga
o Rēhua.
Genealogy
Puna or fresh water springs emerge from the ground at Rēhua setting the site apart as a place of special significance. The formation of these puna and the myriad other waterways of Te Wai Pounamu is attributed in whakapapa to the ancestor Tūterakiwhānoa whose raking of the waka (the South Island) punctured it allowing the water beneath to flow through. The puna at Rēhua would have once provided fresh water for the Ngāti Māmoe / Waitaha people who lived at the ancient Puari pā situated near the centre of Christchurch.
Rēhua's Beginnings
Rēhua began life as a hostel for girls and then boys at its initial site in Stanmore Road in the early 1950s. Rēhua means ‘heavenly guardian’ and ‘Rēhua’ is one of the heavens that the spirit passes through after it leaves the body. The hostel accommodated young Māori apprentices who came to Christchurch under the Māori Apprentices Trade Training Scheme at the Christchurch Polytechnic.
The scheme was instituted by prominent members of the Hāhi Wēteriana (Wesleyan/Methodist Church) and other Ngāi Tahu elders including, the Rev. Wera Couch, the Rev. Wilf Falkingham and Mr Joe Moss. The scheme was the first of its kind in New Zealand and an acknowledgement of the already longstanding relationship between Te Hāhi Weteriana and Ngāi Tahu. The Rēhua Māori Apprentices Hostel provided the young men training in their various trades with cheap accommodation in a community based and Christian atmosphere.
In 1952 the hostel moved to the present day site in Springfield Road. Extra accommodation was built as the number of new trainees increased to around 70 men. The Rēhua ‘boys’ were known for their musical and rugby prowess and the Rēhua concert party performed all over Canterbury raising funds for Rēhua and raising the hostel’s profile in the community. The kinship and community spirit felt among residents of Rēhua is evident in their personal accounts of time spent there.
Te Whatu Manawa Māoritanga o Rēhua
Through
the efforts of the Methodist Church and Ngāi Tahu elders,
planning began for the building of a wharenui at Rēhua
in 1955. Subsequently, construction and carving of Te Whatu
Manawa Māoritanga o Rēhua began in 1957. At that
time it was over one hundred years since a carved wharenui
had been erected in the South Island. All the Canterbury marae
were consulted about the building of the house and it was decided
at a meeting at Rāpaki in 1959 that the wharenui would be representative
of all the tribes in New Zealand.
Te
Whatu Manawa Māoritanga O Rēhua was largely built
using the voluntary labour of the apprentices and others who
were interested. Many local firms donated construction materials
and the tōtara used for the 40 carved poupou and epa was
donated by Okains Bay farmer, Murray Thacker.
Carving and the design of tukutuku panels was overseen by Henare Paikea Toka. He was helped by his wife Mary Toka (an expert in the weaving of tukutuku panels) and by Joe Kingi from Northland. Other carvers who were employed to carve the poupou and epa lived and worked at Rēhua for over a year. Fibre for weaving the tukutuku was brought from the bush at Arahura in Westland and used to craft the 1200 square feet of tukutuku panels that decorate the interior of Te Whatu Manawa Māoritanga o Rēhua today. These tukutuku are the work of women from Rāpaki , Taumutu, Wairewa and Ōtautahi.
A committee of people from throughout Canterbury was formed to
paint the rafters and ridge panels as well as to name the poupou.
It was decided to include carvings representative of all the
waka that had brought Māori to New Zealand. On the inside
of both end walls are Ngāi Tahu ancestors. On the ridge
pole of the house above the porch is Tahupōtiki, ancestor
of the Ngāi Tahu people, while on the righthand side facing
the building is Porourangi of Ngāti Porou and the elder
brother to Tahupōtiki. On the left hand side of the porch
is Tamatea Ariki, the captain of the Takitimu waka who was
also the ancestor of both the Ngāti Porou and Ngāi
Tahu tribes.
Te
Whatu Manawa Māoritanga o Rēhua was opened in 1960.
The lifting of tapu was performed by representatives of the
Waikato tribes led by Princess Piki (Dame Te Atairangi Kahu)
who represented her father King Koroki, whose poor health prevented
his attendance. Visitors from all the tribes in Aotearoa were
present. Later the same morning, the house was opened by the
then Prime Minister Walter Nash and other officials accompanied
by Sir Eruera Tirikatene. Thousands of people took part in
the celebrations that continued over the following four days.
A new accomodation block, called Te Kōti Te Rato after an early Wesleyan Māori clergyman, was opened in 1966, the Wharekai (dining room) in 1977 and four kaumatua cottages in 1987.
Rēhua Today
Since
being built, Te Whatu Manawa Māoritanga o Rēhua has
attracted numerous important gatherings, hui, tangihanga, tourism,
political meetings and Central (Methodist) Mission functions.
Among the bodies that have worked from or at Rēhua are
the Waitaha Cultural Council, under Te Kiato Riwai, the Ōtautahi
Football Club, the Rēhua Kohanga Reo (the first in the
South Island) and Rēhua Marae Social Services.
Rēhua hosts many visitors every year from primary school children to royalty - in 2002 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth 2 visited the marae. Rēhua continues to be a centre for recreation, social occasions and worship. Its stance as a multi-tribal and multi-cultural marae make it a place where people from all backgrounds may find a common unity.
Links:
- Rēhua marae contact details
- Lower Frees Creek - Waterways Restoration
- Now The South Island Has A Fully Carved Maori Meeting House by Melvin Taylor Te Ao Hou The New World, No. 34 (March 1961), pgs 48 - 49
- Rehua Hostel Block, Te Ao Hou The New World, No. 58 (March 1967), pg 26
Sources:
- Gill, Norman. Mission Accomplished. The Establishment of the Christchurch Methodist Mission. Christchurch Methodist Mission, 1991
- Ryan, Terry. Interview by Helen Brown. Te Whatu Manawa Māoritanga O Rēhua. Rēhua Marae, Springfield Road, Christchurch. DAT recording, 25 February 2004.
- Ryan, Terry. Queen Honours Ngāi Tahu History New Zealand Historic Places, May 2002 85:11-13
- Souvenir and Programme of the Official Opening of Rēhua. Christchurch Methodist Central Mission, 1960
- Rēhua, Christchurch New Zealand. Souvenir. (197?)
