The whare-nui was based on Edgecumbe College’s design which Lakes High’s principal Frank Soloman requested and received.  We worked with a Rotorua architect, Phillip Carling, to add on a kitchen and ablutions.  The cost of the building was approximately $150,000.00 (made up of $50,000.00 given by the old Ngāti Whakaue Endowment Board and MOE regional grant of $100,000.00 on a 2- for -1 basis).  These intimately involved with the building:

• Frank Soloman – Principal
• Leah McMillan – Bot Whanau Representative
• Kay Sutherland – Executive Office (she took care of all finances)
• Rangitihi Pene-  HOD Māori
• Philip Carling – Architect
• After it was Built – Board members-   Parekura Cribb and Jim Schuster

The internal furnishings were purchased by Rangitihi Pene.  The Whakairo and Tūrapa (tukutuku) were organised and completed by parents and Board members, Parekura Cribb and Jim Schuster.

Who made which tūrapa? 

Who made which whakairo?

HIKOOTERANGI HOHEPA

Our school kaumātua, Hikooterangi Hōhepa, of Ngāti Te Rorooterangi, Tūtourangi, Ngāti Whakaue, Ngāti Uenukukōpako, Ngāti Rangiteaorereo and Ngāti Raukawa named the whare-nui.  The name was inspired by Hiko’s childhood wanderings over the area, Puketāwhero, where the school stands.  He remembered trees and birds singing, and thus named the whare:  Te Manu Korihi Teatapō – The bird that-sings-at-daybreak! The name was pictorially depicted by Jim Schuster’s mural and furnished with whariki made by Parekura Cribb.

The house was opened at daybreak with karakia by Joe Tamakaimoana Hakaraia.  The puhi was Ngapera Riley of Ngati Te Rorooterangi.  Hiko Hōhepa and Jim Schuster unveiled the name of the whare with appropriate karakia.

WHAKAPAPA

The nine tūpuna were chosen with Rotorua Lakes High School’s catchment area in mind.  The Te Arawa students who attend Lakes High, come, in the man, from:

Rotorua Township, Eastside, Rotokawa, Rotoiti, Rotomā, Tarawera and Ōkareka.

All the marae of these areas come under one of the nine ancestors.

The following whakapapa shows the descent from Pūhaorangi – known as ‘Te Heketanga-ā-rangi’:

• Pūhaorangi
• Ohomairangi
• Ruamuturangi
• Taunga
• Mawake
• Uruika
• Rangitapu
• Atuamatua – Waiheketua (1st wife), Ōkarikaroa (2nd wife)   
• Rakauri  –  Houmaitawhiti
  • Ngatoroirangi  – Tamatekapua
  • Tangimoana –  Kahumatamomoe
  • Kahukura  – Uenukumairarotonga
  • Tuhotoariki   – Rangitihi
  • Rangitauira
  • Tūkahua
  • Tūmaihi
  • Tūmakoha
  • Tarāwhai

Rangitihi had eight children (four of whom are depicted):

• Rangiwhakaekeau, who cohabited with Uenuku-rau-iri of Mataatua and begat Rangiteaorere (Ngāti Rangiteaorere of Te Ngae);
• Rākeiao (Ngāti Rongomai of Tapuaekura and Ruatō);
• Kawatapuārangi (Ngāti Pikiao of Rotoiti);
• Tūhourangi (Tūhourangi of Whakarewarewa and Te Puke).
• He begat Uenukukōpako (Ngāti Uenukukōpako of Rotokawa and Matawera).
• He begat Whakakaue-kaipāpā (Ngāti Whakaue, Ngati Rangiwewehi, Ngāraranui Rotorua, Awahou and Ngongotahā)
• Whakauekaipāpā begat Tūtanekai, who begat Whatumairangi, who begat Ariatiterangi and Hurungaterangi.
• Hurungaterangi (Ngāti Huruterangi of Ngāpuna and Ōhinemutu).
• Ariariterangi begate Te Rorooterangi (of Ōwhata and Ō Ngāti Te Rorooterangi are tangata whenua).
• Āpumoana (Ngāti Tamateatūtahi of Rotoiri, Ngāti Tūmatawera of Ngāpuna and Kaiteriria).

Tarāwhai descends via the ure tārewa line of Ngātoroirangi (Ngāti Tarāwhai of Ōkataina, Ruatō, Ngāpuna and Te Teko).  The ariki ihorei of Te Arawa waka has always come from this line.

Placement of Whakairo 

As you enter the wharenui, the first tupuna on the right side is Te Rorooterangi.  He was placed here to welcome people, as Te Manu korohi Teatapō stands upon Ngāti Te Rorooterangi land.  Tapiri atu ki tērā, kai tūpono he aituā, tōna tikanga, me whatatakoto ki mua i a ia.

In order to bind the house, we placed Hurungaterangi opposite his nephew, Te Rorooterangi.

We then placed two tupuna who could be viewed as “outsiders”.  Tarāwhai, ancestor of Ngāti Tarāwhai, is the only one of the nine tupuna whose descent is traced from Ngātoroirangi (taura ahurewa of Te Arawa) rather than Tamatekapua. Rangiteaorere, although a descendent of Tamatekapua, was the illegitimate son of  Rangiwhakaekeau and Uenukurauiri (sister of Tuhoe) and was born and raised beside the Rangitaki River, at Te Teko.

Rangitihi’s middle sons, Rākeiao and Kawatapuārangi were placed opposite one another.

Tūhourangi and Āpumoana, both are considered pōtiki.  However, while Tūhourangi was his mother Papawharanui’s pōtiki, a mōteatea of Te Arawa refers to him as a “waenga”.  Perhaps because he was raised in status above that of his brothers by Rangitihi, it has become common for him to be referred to as a pōtiki.  Irirangi Tiakiawa argued that Āpumoana was Rangitihi’s youngest.

UenukuŌpako is placed next to his father, Tūhourangi.  Rangitihi gave Tūhourangi a widow, a daughter of Kahu-hunu and Rongomaiwahine as a wife, Rongomaipāpā.  They begat Uenukuōpako.