He aha? MĀ WAI?

This website is for whānau who affiliate with Te Rūnanga o Awarua to keep up-to-date with Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, the overall governance entity and collective voice of Ngāi Tahu.

Te Rūnanga o Awarua is based at Te Rau Aroha Marae in the port-town of Bluff. It is one of the 18 constituent members (papatipu rūnanga) of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, which has its headquarters in Christchurch.

Each of these 18 papatipu rūnanga appoint one representative and one alternate representative to Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. The current Awarua representative is Gail Thomson and the alternate representative is Mike Stevens. They were appointed in April 2017 for three-year terms.

Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu manages the tribe’s collective assets and distributes benefits derived from them to papatipu rūnanga and individual Ngāi Tahu, which number nearly 60,000. This website and its companion Facebook page have been created to enable Gail and Mike to share information and receive advice about the strategic direction and function of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu.

The name of this website, Te Whātoro, reflects Gail and Mike's desire to reach out to Ngāi Tahu Whānui from Awarua. The kōwhaiwhai design above, which was created by the late Cliff Whiting and is part of Te Rau Aroha Marae, embodies this intention. It represents the aka pōhue, the vines of the convolvulus plant, and the way they stretch out and climb. This is an especially apt metaphor given that Bluff Hill is known to us as Motu Pōhue.