Hongoeka Marae Puna Maumahara
Kia ora Hongoeka whānau.
At a small gathering of whānau on 27 September I gave a talk about a project I am working on. I would like to share this pānui with the wider whānau to let more of you know about the project.
If you do not know me, my name is Fiona McKnight. I am one of the daughters of Trica and Don McKnight and a granddaughter of Mabel Metapere McGill (Aunty Micky) and Lionel McGill (Uncle Lionel). My nana was one of the daughters of Pohe and Arthur Gunson. I have been involved with the marae komiti since 2020 and I am currently the vice-chairperson.
I am enrolled in a MA (Master of Arts) in History at Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington. I have previously completed a BA in History and Art History at Vic and then a BA Honours in History in 2021-2022.
Previous Research
For Honours, I built a database of petitions submitted by Māori and considered by the Native Affairs Committee from 1890 to 1900. My focus was on the petitions of wāhine. I created a website for this research: https://ngapitihana.weebly.com/. During my research, I went to Archives New Zealand and looked at hundreds of petitions. The basic details of each petition are recorded in the Parliamentary Papers, but to understand what the petition was about, who was involved and the outcome that was being requested you need to access the original documents. These petition documents are taonga and most people are not aware of them. One example is a petition submitted by Raiha Puaha in 1897 in response to the Kapiti Island Public Reserve Bill – among the rangatira who added their signatures are Metapere Ropata and Ropata Tangahoe. A visit to the Archives NZ reading room is needed if you want to understand what was contained in the petition and who signed it.
Working with these original documents is very rewarding. When I completed honours, I knew this was the type of research I wanted to do in the future – working with original documents that had limited historical coverage and bringing to light information that is not widely known.
Hongoeka Research
Many of you will have seen this letter, it is included in some copies of the constitution of Hongoeka Settlement Incorporated.
This is a letter from the Office of the Māori Trustee, and it explains that the Māori Land Board agreed to loan Hongoeka Settlement Incorporated $12,000 “for the purpose of purchasing an existing house property at Hongoeka Bay”. This is a key founding document for our marae buildings. Recorded on the letter are names of the “covenantors” of the mortgage: Uncle Maui, Uncle Alan, my Grandad (Uncle Lionel) and Uncle Dick. The President of the society at that time was Uncle Jensen.
This letter is the starting point of my research. How did Hongoeka get from the building we call Kenana (The Brown House) to our fully-functioning marae? Who were the key people? What did they do to make this all happen? What was the driving force behind all the hard work that has taken place?
I am now 10 months into a 2-year project. I plan to submit my MA Thesis of around 30,000 words in March 2026. The working title for my thesis is “Assertion of Identity: the building of Hongoeka Marae”. My focus is on Hongoeka, and I will also be researching other marae to understand why Māori have developed or redeveloped marae in the past fifty or so years.
The sources for my research are:
The archives at Hongoeka. This is mostly our Incorporated Society records. There is also other information about building our whare, and redevelopment of the Kenana building and lots of photographs. I will create a database to make it easier to locate items in the archives room. While I work through the archives, I am taking digital copies of as many items as possible
Kaumātua interviews. I am about to start interviewing. I will be making audio recordings of these interviews. My plan is to have the recordings available for whānau to listen to in our archives room
Existing historiography. There is fair amount of literature about the history of marae buildings, how they have changed over time, the emergence of urban marae etc. I’ve come across some great material published by Te Wānanga o Raukawa that relates to Te Whakatupuranga Rua Mano (and beyond)
Formal government archives. There are documents, maps and photographs available in the Native Land Court records, at Archives NZ, and in the National Library.
Plimmerton School Primers 1939
The Bigger Picture – Hongoeka Puna Maumahara
The MA I am completing is just a small part of something much bigger:
My research project has limited time and scope, it won’t cover the entire history of Hongoeka. The work I am doing is just one small part of organising our marae archives and making them available to whānau. Aunty Pat Grace and Awhina did some preliminary work on this before the Kenana redevelopment in 2023. I am building on what they have done to provide more detailed information about what we have in the archives. The digital copies I am making will only available to whānau and will not be shared on the public internet
I need the support of whānau to complete this project. It is really important that I have the input of our kaumātua, they are the ones who were on the committee in the early days. I am keen to hear their experience of the work that took place and why the whānau were willing to put in all the work to have dedicated buildings for the marae
As well as interviewing, I am reaching out to whānau to understand if they have something that can be added to the project. This might be copies of komiti documents, writing from Iwi and Hapū studies with Te Wānanga o Raukawa (TWoR), or interviews that have previously been recorded. You might have documents or photos that would be a good addition to the archive. Copies can be taken and stored in the archives room so they can be shared with whānau. So far, I have not found any komiti minutes for the 1980s. If you have these stored away, I would be very grateful if you would let me take copies to ensure our records are complete.
Get in Touch
I will be interviewing kaumātua and would also love to hear from other Hongoeka whānau who have something to share. Please email me fiona_mcknight@hotmail.com or you can call me on 021 1831122 if you would like to contribute to the project, or even just to share your thoughts about it.