Port Levy on Banks Peninsula to celebrate 100 years of whare Tūtehuarewa

Residents of Port Levy will gather together over Easter to celebrate 100 years of the whare at the heart of their community.

The weatherboard hall Tūtehuarewa was built in 1923 in the Banks Peninsula town of Koukourarata (Port Levy).

At various points throughout its history the marae has been a dancehall, native school and space for hui, weddings and tangihanga.

It has sheltered the people of the town through wars, pandemics, the Great Depression, urbanisation and revitilisation.

Meri Crofts is a local taua (Ngāi Tahu dialect for kuia). She said the marae has always been a warm and sheltering place, qualities it shares with the ancestress it takes its name from.

"Tūtehuarewa is named after our female ancestor, and there isn't too many marae or halls named after a female, and we are very proud [of that]."

Crofts said in the time of her grandparents it was called a community hall, but it became a marae once people started going to te reo classes.

"I've participated in Tūtehuarewa for a long time. My grandparents brought me up in Port Levy, therefore I was involved at a very young age of attending social activities that we had at the marae."

Since the Ngāi Tahu settlement, the facilities around the marae have expanded to include a dining room, a whare wānanga room and flushing toilets.

Crofts said the centenary celebrations will be a chance for many people to reconnect with their marae.

"There will be so many people that are trying to connect up back home. There's a lot of them that haven't been back for a couple of generations... This is how important it is with all these people returning home to learn about the history of days gone by," she said.

The three-day centenary will take place from 7-9 April, and will include games, kapa haka and an exhibition of whānau and hapū taonga.

There will also be a Māori language children's book launched during the celebrations, which will tell the history of Tūtehuarewa.

Karuna Thurlow is on the planning committee for the centenary and said the whare has always been an important place for her.

"For me it means home, because I walk into that whare and my taua is on the wall, so I know I'm home and sheltered and safe with whānau," she said.

Crofts said the whare Tūtehuarewa will continue to offer shelter to the people of Port Levy and the descendants of Ngāi Tahu for years to come.

"I just feel as though I'm a guardian for the next generation, it's not just about me it's about the next generation that's coming through."