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Otamatea Marae



 One advantage of being back in the Kaipara region last year was that I got to go on road trips so I could take photos of places I hadn't seen in the 8 years I lived here.  Otamatea Marae is in the small country town of Maungaturoto and was established around 1946 as the ancestral marae for the Ngati Whatua people.


The wharanui (meeting house) was originally the whare runanga (assembly house) at Shelly Beach which opened in 1887. It was relocated to Tanoa to sit next to the Kakaraea Church in remembrance of the 1825 battle of Te Ika a Ranganui (the Musket Wars).

Linking up with Skywatch Friday.

Comments

Tom said…
...a building that would look at home in Hawaii.
Billy Blue Eyes said…
Nice looking building
local alien said…
Whew that's a lot of long Maori place names. I had fun trying to pronounce them all.
Iris Flavia said…
Beautiful house, oh I´d sure love to have a verandah, even if small. But weee... all those names! Difficult.
lesh Stgermain said…
Talking about symmetry, and a beautiful sky!
Quite a modern looking marae, with the net curtains and no carvings.
Jim said…
Interesting info.
NatureFootstep said…
seems to be a fine place for meetings :)
Yogi♪♪♪ said…
I love how you are exploring your surroundings. I've been so busy with the house renovations and getting my brother moved that I haven't done that as much as I liked. You are an inspiration.
Bill said…
Interesting history, nice composition.
I like your picture a lot and I love that you learn and share so much about the Maori history.

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