Week 6, pt. 2 - Hirimihi, the Maori Meeting House

Hinemihi is a Maori meeting house built by Tene Waitere in 1880. It originally stood in Te Wairoa which is a buried village between Rotorua and Mount Tarawera. Hinemihi served as an attraction for tourists visiting the landmark famously known as the Pink and White Terraces. When Mt Tarawera erupted in 1886, Hinemihi saved a mare few people from the tonnes of ash and mud that rained down on Te Wairoa. In 1893, Governor General William Hillier Onslow purchased the hut for 50 pounds as a memento of his visit to New Zealand. He had it shipped back to England where is currently still stands at Clandon House in Surrey.

The history of this little marae is rich with matauranga (Royal, Politics and Knowledge: Kaupapa Maori and Matauranga Maori). It contains a lot of traditional knowledge because of all it has seen in the time it has stayed standing strong. Many New Zealand people believe this piece of Maori ancestry should be brought back to Aotearoa where it belongs, but due to it now being owned by the UK’s National Trust, all that can be done is wait until it is offered back. New Zealander’s want to be reconnected to their roots and have their history on Aotearoa soil again. Jim Schuster works for Heritage New Zealand and works in marae restoration. His great grandfather was Tene Waitere, Hinemihi’s carver.

This of course is not a new issue. New Zealander’s are always wanting to get back to their origins and learn as much as they can about the foundations that made them, especially the Maori people due to the colonization of the European in the 19^th century (Walker, Coming of the Pakeha). Even back then when Maori and Pakeha fought, they were fighting for land and anything on it. “If you are … occupying indigenous lands you are … a colonizer” (Indigenous Action Media, 7). Even now, elements of this conflict still exist and Hinemihi is one of them. Maori and European, still debating over who has the rights to aspects of New Zealand culture.

This also relates back to art. Take the carving on Hinemihi for example. They tell a story of our country and its people, as does colonial art. Art is informative, and Maori people see Hinimihi as being a piece of traditional knowledge. The Matauranga Maori that is represented through this piece of art means something to the people of New Zealand and bringing it back to Aotearoa soil is looked at as a way to reconnect with an ancestral past.

Works Cited:

McKee, Hannah. “Hinemihi, the Maori Meeting House far away from home.” Stuff, 22 Oct 2016, http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/arts/85241386/hinemihi-the-maori-meeting-house-far-away-from-home

Royal, Charles. "Politics and Knowledge: Kaupapa Maori and Matauranga Maori." New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, vol.47, no.2, 2012, pp. 30-37.

Walker, Ranginui. "Coming of the Pakeha." Tauiwi, 1990.

Indigenous Action Media, “Accomplices Not Allies – Abolishing the Ally Industrial Complex,” version 2, 05 Feb 2014.