Story: Daily life in Māori communities – te noho a te hapori

Circular meeting house, Mōhaka

Circular meeting house, Mōhaka

In the face of rapid and dramatic changes to their patterns of life, rather than adapting entirely to Pākehā ways some Māori communities aimed to return to earlier patterns of communal living and to revive traditional beliefs and customs, or developed new ones. This remarkable circular meeting house, named Rongomaiwahine, was opened around 1902 at Waipapa a Iwi, at Mōhaka in Hawke's Bay. It does not derive directly from either traditional or introduced styles of architecture. 

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Alexander Turnbull Library, Williams Family Collection
Reference: 1/2-029587;F

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Mark Derby, 'Daily life in Māori communities – te noho a te hapori - Changes in daily life after European arrival', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/40901/circular-meeting-house-mohaka (accessed 29 April 2024)

Story by Mark Derby, published 5 Sep 2013