Temple View - Ngati Mahanga Mana Whenua

It was good to see, Ngati Mahanga mentioned as the Mana Whenua of the Temple View area, recently.   I stumbled across a report by the Hamilton City Council about their Proposed District Plan, Chapter 19 – Historic Heritage.  In Appendix E “Built Heritage Inventory Records”, six Heritage Buildings (owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Temple View) had the following passage inserted: 

Historical context of the Temple View area

The Temple View area was part of the rohe of the Waikato iwi Ngati Mahanga.   A pa or village is believed to have existed in the Koromatua area and another on the hill on which the Temple was built was used also as an urupa for burials.  

See here for whole document

Heritage Buildings and page numbers 

• H106 David O McKay Building (since demolished) - p.169
• H107 G.R.Biesinger Hall - p.174
• H109 Wendell B Medenhall Library – p.180
• H133 First House – p.189
• H134 Kai Hall – p.195
• H135 Block Plant (aka. The Nunnery) – p.200

“Part of the rohe of … Ngati Mahanga” – these few words meant a lot because back in 2015, we had encountered a number of people from neighbouring groups who argued that they were the Mana-Whenua.  This occurred around the time the developments began in Temple View and concern was being expressed among our people.    

 This led to us (Myself, Awarutu Samuels & Ron Pai) producing a report titled “He Koronga Matua Na Puhaanga”, (shortened to Koromatua) which incidentally is the original name of the Temple View.  An address was made to our King, Tuheitia, by me at the Ngati Mahanga Poukai (Te Papa o Rotu Marae, Whatawhata) on 10 April 2015 and copies of the report were distributed to him and others. 

The report related to all of our ancestral places in the Hamilton West and one section related to Koromatua (Temple View).   For this section our main source was the LDS publication Te Rongo Pai – History Growth and Development of the Church College of New Zealand and New Zealand Temple Project, Hamilton, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1958 - specifically the passage titled ‘A Happy Omen: Finding of Maori Graves on Temple Site’ on p.96.    The title refers to the accidental discovery of six tupapaku during the excavations on the Temple site and the reaction of the kaumatua consulted who was Tom Edwards of Ngati Mahanga.

The writer introduced Tom Edwards as the son of Rore Edwards (Rore Eruiti) the historian of the Mahanga tribe.   He mentioned subtribes of Ngati Mahanga - Ngati Ngamuri, Ngati Waenganui and others.   He spoke of a  Houhana (burial tunnel) that was 30 feet long and stated that the last two burials there were named, ie: Te Rangiwhakaakonga and Uehoka (referred to as the son of Te Punatoto - who was our Paramount Chief in the period just before the arrival of the Europeans).   Our tupuna, our urupa, our ancestral place.

We sent our report to Elder Coward, the Project Manager of the Temple View Development and part of it was used when the Church erected story boards in the Pavilions, behind the GRB.  See image below.

Our efforts in 2015 included

• A report that took a couple of months of our "own time"
• Preparing an address for the King, delivering it and dealing with all the nerves that come with speaking in front of 400 or so people
• Dialogue with the Church (with Paratai Tai Rakena - cousin )
• Dialogue with the Storyboard contractor - (with Paratai Tai Rakena) especially please don't write about us archaeologically or ethnologically, meaning dont say we ate birds and eels LOL

These 'bullet points' above are all considered as labours of love for the memory of our tupuna, the mana of our people and the preservation of our history;  but I mention them to illustrate why seeing an acknowledgement was so meaningful in 2021 when thinking back to 2015. 

Then I noticed the date on the report was – 2013!  Two years BEFORE our 2015 mahi.  The Inventory records that mentioned us were prepared by Matthews & Matthews Architects Ltd in 2012, even earlier.  How did they know?  Where did that come from?  Ah!   Te Rongo Pai – History Growth and Development of the Church College of New Zealand and New Zealand Temple Project, Hamilton, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1958 was in their list of references.   

I almost felt ineffective, until I realised that not everyone reads these Heritage Building Records and I don’t imagine there is a wide readership of Te Rongo Pai either.   I'd like to think that our mahi made an impact or at least everyone who read it, was informed by it.    

It seems to me that establishing and maintaining the connection to our ancestral places (often interpreted as Mana Whenua as defined in the RMA 1991) is an ongoing job and maintaining the information flow is crucial.   Uploading and adding to Te Rongo Pai will be a good start.  

Nga mihi - Ngati Mahanga