Home   Search   Contact Us

The Story of
“AROHANUI KI TE TANGATA”
THE MEETING-HOUSE OF
“GOODWILL TO ALL MEN”
WAIWHETU, LOWER HUTT CITY.
WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND.

TWO WAYS OF LIFE BECOME ONE

                                 

A young man lay on his back in the fields of Taranaki one day in 1904 and gazed upon the pure white mantle of Mount Egmont. He closed his eyes.
The clouds rolled back, the heavens glowed with a strange light and His voice spoke to the young man:
"Ko ia e aroha ana ki a au naku tena". (He that loves me is mine).
The dream continued. This 18-year-­old youth, taken from Waiwhetu to Taranaki to learn the ancient cus­toms and traditions of his tribe in the sacred chambers of the elders, saw many things. He saw the importance of keeping alive the cultural riches of the past. He saw a vision of a great meeting-house at the head of the fish of Maori mythology (the North Island), a meeting-house not for one tribe alone but for all the people, Maori and pakeha, a meeting place of Goodwill to All Men.
This was the vision of Ihaia Porutu Puketapu, a leader of Te Ati-Awa-No­-Runga-I-Te-Rangi tribe of Waiwhetu, a little Maori settlement in the Hutt Valley, near Wellington - the head of the fish.
He took up the challenge. Today - 56 years later - the dream has come true.
Through all the years the dream never left him.
In the face of the chill stares of the sceptics, he remained true to his vision.
They laughed at him. To many it seemed fantastic, preposterous, this idea of an old style carved Maori meeting-house in the heart of the capital in the middle of the 20th century.
He had no money but he had faith and a mission from God.
So began the years of planning, or­ganising, working, always with the vision of the meeting-house at the head of the fish driving him on.
It was more than a dream of a meeting-house. It was the dream of a way of life for Maori and pakeha, of "Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All Men".
For Ihaia Puketapu was brought up in the shadow of the grisly wars in which his own Taranaki kinsfolk suffered cruelly. But more important he was steeped in the traditions, prophecies and teachings of Te Whiti-o-­Rongomai and Tohu Kakahi, the Tara­naki prophets who fought war with peace, hate with love.
It was under Te Whiti that the Maori people adopted means of peace­ful resistance in the war in Taranaki over 80 years ago, culminating in the famous cannon incident at remote Pa­rihaka Pa.
Feelings were running high in Tara­naki. Incidents were mounting. Else­where there had been war and rum­ours of war. Against this tense atmosphere a party of soldiery advanced on the Maoris at Parihaka to arrest Te Whiti and Tohu. The Maori people gathered round Te Whiti, quietly, mindful that the cannon aimed at their pa was to be fired if they did not surrender. They met the challenge with peace and faith. They remained unmoved. The cannon remained silent. Wars throughout the land came quickly to an end.
This was the way of Te Whiti, "Peace on Earth, and Goodwill to All Men". It is the way too of Ihaia Puketapu.
That is why the new meeting-house is called "Arohanui ki te Tangata" (Goodwill to All Men).
That is why the exterior is modern pakeha, the interior ancient Maori - ­merged symbol of racial goodwill, symbol of our being one people.
But what does it mean, this being one people?
At the "head of the fish" now stand two buildings symbolic of our racial destiny - the House of Parlia­ment, a European building where
Maori and pakeha meet to frame the laws for all the people and a great Maori meeting-house where Maori and pakeha will mingle in friend­ship in a Maori setting.
Ihaia saw that the dream confirmed a sacred trust which Te Whiti had given to Ihaia Porutu, grand uncle of Ihaia Puketapu, before the latter was born.
The words of Te Whiti were: ­"Noho ake te tangata manaaki ta­ngata, tena koe te tangata whakaaro rangatira. Tenei waiho nga ngutu 0 te Upoko o Te Ika-a-Maui kia wa­hangu kei te haere mai te wa, mau hei whakakowhetewhete."
("Allow the lips of the head of the fish to be sealed until such time as you will allow it to speak.")
Like Te Whiti this house talks peace. This house talks friendship. Here at the "head of the fish" it says that two ways of life have become one.
Together Maori and pakeha shared the privations of war. Here we share the fruits of peace. Our separate heri­tages merge.
Both have contributed much that is precious - skills, labour, money, and the riches of our separate arts. Both have gained much that is precious - proud arts shared, a common meeting place, fellowship, and understanding - gifts no money could buy.
This is what it means, this being one people.