Te Ara Nui Waka Centre

Canoe Culture Centre of Excellence

Our Vision

Te Ara Nui will create, manage and run a centralised, tohunga-led hub for all aspects of waka culture based in Tāmaki Makaurau: a safe, inclusive, innovative space for creating and maintaining waka, holistic learning, safeguarding mātauranga Māori, knowledge transmission and knowledge sovereignty.

The building and facilities will incorporate a canoe building and carving workshop equipped to create waka of all types and sizes using both customary and cutting-edge materials.

This physical space will be extended into the digital realm with AR/VR/AI assets and curriculum development to further extend access and participation into the broader national and global community.

Te Ara Nui has the visionary potential to generate the kinds of historic regeneration and transformation for waka that the kōhanga reo movement has had for te reo Māori. It gives life to all dimensions of the very concept of “KAINGA” as both “home” and “community”, activating “KA” - fire and energy; “I” - essence and spirituality; and “NGA” - plurality. Firmly grounded in tikanga and tohungatanga, it will nurture reconnection with ancestral knowledges and practices, inspiring and rekindling cultural identity and pride for generations to come and restoring waka to their rightful place at the very heart of Aotearoa’s identity as a Pacific nation.

 

What drives us to activate Te Ara Nui Waka Centre?

  • Returning waka to the waters of Tāmaki Makaurau and restoring the vitality of waka cultures in the wake of colonial destruction

  • Creating a purpose-built space for tōhunga, iwi, hapū and whānau to exercise their rights under Te Tiriti to tino rangatiratanga over mātauranga and tāonga,including waka

  • Sharing our unique waka knowledge and Mātauranga Maori through public demonstrations, workshops and wananga

  • Enabling access to the water for Māori and Pacific residents of otherwise landlocked Auckland suburbs

  • Nurturing relationships among Māori and Pacific communities that honour and celebrate ancestral connections through waka voyaging