A multi-million dollar marae makeover is breathing new life into one of Taranaki's most celebrated pa sites.
Ānaru White and Wikitoria Michalanney in front of Tama Tāne whare. Photo: RNZ / Tom Kitchin
Two whāre - one of them more than 100 years old - have been lovingly restored in phase one of the project at Ōwae Marae in Waitara.
Ngāti Rahiri hapu member - Wikitoria Michalanney - will always have a soft spot for Ōwae Marae.
"Well, I supposed I got married [here] and I was lucky in the day to be married here and I'm still married so it must've worked.
"You don't have to married elsewhere, you can be married on your marae."
A Te Āti Awa marae, Ōwae was also central to the lives of Michalanney's mother and grandmother.
"For me it's where my grandmother lay when she passed away and my mother lay here last year, so of course it's got some significance for me and brings my heart to tears."
An avid fundraiser for the Manukorihi Pa Trust - where the marae is situated - Michalanney says the whāre were in a perilous state prior to the renovations.
"For the two houses it was really crucial. I felt that now would've been a crunch time as to the safety of being side the two buildings that have been refurbished that's Tama Tāne and Ngārue."
Te Whai-tara-nui-a-Ngārue, the smaller of the two weatherboard whāre was built in the late 1800s, while Tama Tāne dates back to the 1930s.
Trustee Ānaru White said there was more to the renos than met the eye.
"Both the whāre have had weatherboards replaced, so there was bore, there was rot as you'd expect for whāre of these ages.
"There's been new iron roofing put in place as well and they're now fully insulated - you don't see that - we've insulated the walls, the ceilings.
Wikitoria Michalanney and Ānaru White check out the renovations inside Tama Tāne whāre. Photo: Robin Martin
"Also all the windows have been either repaired or replaced and double glazed."
He said the marae, which was the town's Civil Defence staging point and often used for significant hui, was maintained by a group of volunteers.
"And yeah we've had a little bit of budge here and there to do things, but mainly we relied on working bees and the Provincial Growth Fund just enabled us to get up to scratch with a lot of the maintenance work we needed to do and we're getting to the stage where we can easily maintain them."
In 2020, the PGF granted $96 million to upgrade 347 marae around the country.
The government says so far it's created 1738 jobs nationwide, 1046 of which were held by Maori.
Its target was 3000. In Taranaki, 23 marae received $7.4 million which has created 107 jobs, 70 for Maori.
Ōwae got $400,000. Wikitoria Michalanney reckoned it was money well spent.
"Well, I went woah! Cause I haven't been up here for a couple of weeks and they've since taken away the scaffolding and they've finished up most of the painting and the roof.
"You can see the lovely red roof on it and it all seems to blend and I thought this is really great.
"I can't wait to go inside. I haven't seen inside yet, so hopefully Ānaru has got the keys and can take me on a little tour."
New Plymouth company Clelands Construction was responsible for the work at Ōwae, which has accelerated further refurbishment plans.
The roof of the carved meeting house Te Ikaroa-a-Māui is about to be replaced and the Toi Maori refurbished.
And the Manukorihi Pa Trust has now secured funding and consents to demolish the 100-year-old whārekai and replace it with a $4 million state-of-the-art kitchen and dinning facility.
Work on that is due to begin in February.
