Pipitea is the Turangawaewae and cultural heartbeat for our people and our city.
TE RAU HUIA
The plume of the huia is the symbolism of aristocracy and leadership that include qualities such as leadership, good governance, code of conduct.
TE RAU KURA
The plume of the albatross is the symbolism of peace and adaptability that include qualities such as upskilling, professional development, moving with the times.
TE RAU KŌPARA
The plume of the kōpara represents the melodic sound of the bellbird the messenger between the physical and the metaphysical informing us about the importance of choosing your words that include qualities such as communications, marketing.
TE RAU KŪKUPA
The plume of the kūkupa represents the food reserved solely for chiefs, acknowledging the importance of looking after people that includes qualities such as quality services, excellence, processes, monitoring, evaluating.
TE RAU TITAPU
The plume of the kōtuku acknowledges the importance of connecting with people, not only esteemed guests but also the community that includes qualities such as connecting with people and communities, visibility, networking, staying connected.
TE RAU PIOPIO
Like the huia, the plume of the moa is another extinct indigenous bird of the land reminding us of the importance of protecting endangered species (both tangible and intangible) identifying qualities such as kaitiakitanga, guardianship, protection, rangatiratanga.
Guided by our values we will focus on these four key Strategic objectives:
Urban Maori return
The Maori population more than doubled between 1961 and 1991, rising from 150,000 to 400,000. More significantly, it also urbanised. Pulled by job opportunities and government policies, Maori flooded into the cities and towns, accelerating a wartime phenomenon. Only 17% of Maori lived in urban areas in 1936; that figure was 26% by 1945, 62% by 1966 and 83% by 1986.
This brought the urban Pakeha population face to face with Maori for the first time in 100 years. Wellington had been the first township to ‘swamp’ Maori in the 1840s, even taking their minimal town reserves from them in exchange for rural ones. In colonial days ‘gradually the Maori disappeared from the streets of Wellington’. By the 1930s just a few hundred lived in the greater urban area and newcomers spoke feelingly about wandering the streets looking for the sight of another Maori face.
Twenty years after the ‘silent migration’ began, the first urban marae appeared in Auckland: Te Puea (1965), a traditional kin-based marae, but open to all; and the Catholic-run Te Unga Waka (1966). Another alternative emerged, the secular, multi-tribal marae, two examples being Arai Te Uru Marae in Kaikorai Valley, Dunedin (1979-80) and Pipitea Marae, opened on 31 May 1980 for what Ranginui Walker calls the ‘quasi-tribe’ Ngati Poneke. Ngati Poneke (a transliteration of Port Nicholson, the old name for Wellington) began as a city youth club in the 1930s and was encouraged by Sir Apirana Ngata and Lady Miria Pomare.
The complex preserves the traditional relationship between the heavy concrete and steel building and open spaces, and there are wooden palisades, but a commercial car park beneath the building brings in revenue. As relentlessly modern as its neighbours, the commercial towers of Thorndon Quay, the newly renovated Pipitea Marae continues to play its role in transplanting Maori culture into the urban milieu.