Lost in our own Land – Tamaki Maori Experience, Christchurch

You leave the spiritual house of Raroheka and make your way into the village of Matuku Moana.

Only very few of the Kati Noho people remain in the village. You are told that many of the young ones have relinquished traditional life in favour of the ease promised by the European lifestyle – and they have begun to migrate into the nearby colonial settlement of Moorehouse.

Those villagers who remain are going about their daily chores and there is much for you to see, to share and to learn, and many characters, both Maori and European, to meet.

The longer you spend in the village, the greater the sense of unease. Then, as if from nowhere, the rebel Te Ao Huri appears at the entrance of the village, flanked with a dozen of his musket warriors including Uitara!

The arguments begin, Chief to Chief. The atmosphere is tense. Weapons are drawn and the tension escalates into powerful Haka... This begins the great conflict between two tribes.

Christchurch Maori Experience - Rebel Te Ao Huri

Christchurch Maori Experience - Matuku Moana village