Sacred Heart College’s Mission Centre has had its Māori whakairo carving and tukutuku woven panels re-orientated and rededicated to better reflect the College’s commitment to honouring the stories, heritage, and mana whenua associations.

An external carved pare door lintel by Hato Paora Old Boy, Thompson Hokianga, has been relocated to frame a formal entrance into the Mission Centre and is now a ceremonial focus for the protocol of pōhiri welcome to the College.

The internal installation was originally commissioned by Catechist Peter Reo from the Pakipaki Māori Mission when his daughter Sarah Reo attended the College in the 1990s.  

Mr Reo completed the tukutuku panels alongside master carver Manuel Dunn.  The carvings and panels were then installed in the Mission Centre when it was built in 2016.

However, both the internal and external installations were arranged incorrectly, and a restorative process was undertaken to correctly orientate and display the stories depicted in the art.

The journey to get to a rededication and blessing ceremony, held earlier this year, has been two-and-a-half years in the making.

Principal Mrs Neville-Foster, who took over the reins of the Catholic girls’ secondary school in Napier in 2018, says the carvings are a sacred taonga and she and the school relied on much guidance and prayer throughout the process.

“There's a calm and a peace about it now as things have been reconciled along the way.

“There’s also a greater understanding of tikanga and of being open to others' beliefs while still maintaining your own.” 

The process was conducted in consultation with the school’s cultural advisor Charles Ropitini, Te Reo Māori teacher Henrietta Hillman, the Kaitiaki Tikanga staff and carvers Thompson Hokianga and Matua Dunn.   

Mr Ropitini says the Mission Centre is now the “ceremonial heart” of the college, where the girls are able to carry out cultural practices “effectively and safely”.

“By correctly orientating and rededicating the carvings, the Mission Centre can also function as a marae and a space for spiritual worship”, says Mr Ropitini.

He says the three installations out front, above the door lintel and inside are “impressive”. 

"The pou in the entranceway refers to a female deity of fertility that watches over the grounds and the girls that are there and essentially welcomes everybody into the college grounds.”

He says the carvings tell a story about Māori spirituality, Māori genealogy and Catholic spirituality coming together as one.

“And then there is the story about the attainment of knowledge and the travelling of the Sisters of Missions from France to New Zealand. 

The carvings play an important role in “moving forward into the future”. 

“These installations help to keep bridging the cultural divide between Māori and non-Māori. 

"They allow for stories to be shared and stories to be told and, for the girls essentially to know and to have a good standing in their Catholic faith and in our multicultural society.”

What is increasingly important according to Mrs Neville-Foster is that “Māori girls at the college connect with their Māori culture”. 

This, she says, is no clearer represented than when Thomson added pāua shell to the carvings, and her young son commented on its significance.

“He said: ‘Do you know, if the carving doesn't have pāua shell, it can't see’,” she recalls. 

“That's what they're learning at school and so you've got girls who come from learning tikanga at primary school to coming in and going: ‘that carving has got no Pāua shell so that carving can't see?’”

“And that can disrupt their spirituality if they believe certain things around our carvings and if we’re being true to Te Whare Tapa Whā - the wellbeing of the whole person, which we say we are at Sacred Heart, then we need to look after the spirituality of all our girls.”

Mrs Hillman says “strong spiritual shifts” have occurred, and there is now an alignment, a unity and a flow about it all. 

“Honestly, I come up now, and I'm excited to be up at work – not that I wasn’t before – but as a Māori, there's something there that I can identify with, which is important.”

She says past students and staff who came back for the ceremony were blessed by the integral part tikanga Māori plays within the school.

She thanked Mrs Neville-Foster for her leadership during this time and credited her for leading the charge. 

Article added: Monday 08 November 2021