Te Kawerau ā Maki - Te Henga Marae

Te Henga Kāinga Whakahirahira (marae and papakāinga project) is about bringing our people home and safeguarding our culture. Over 90% of our tribal lands were taken within 15 years of the signing of the Treaty, and our last dedicated marae was lost when the Waitākere Dam was built in the early 1900s. We are the only iwi in the Auckland region without a dedicated marae for our people. Marae are the civic, social, and cultural centre for iwi. Rebuilding the marae and village for Te Kawerau ā Maki is an existential matter for us - we need this to secure the wellbeing of our people and future for our great-grandchildren. It will be an eco-marae in harmony with nature, and a place for the wider community to engage with us. This will be built in our ancestral home of Te Henga, Waitākere Ranges, Auckland NZ.

The project achieved resource consent in December 2023 (yay!) and is now at detailed design stage - we hope to lodge building consent mid-2025. The project high-level costings are around $15,000,000 - we need all the help we can get. If you can spare anything to help us, all donations will go directly to this project's costs. If the full target is not reached any funds raised will still go towards the project's staged costs i.e. phase 2 (building consent), phase 3 (site clearance and site works), and phase 4 (construction). Any other significant funding and project milestones will be updated here for transparency.