Project partners
O Mahurangi is the first Auckland project to have iwi partners embedded in the project including on our Project Advisory Board (PAB).
This partnership enables us to have a Te Ao Māori lens across all aspects of the project. With Te Tiriti o Waitangi as a framework, Waka Kotahi and the Alliance will work with our iwi partners to build strong, meaningful and enduring relationships that achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.
Three iwi representatives from Ngāti Manuhiri, Te Kawerau a Maki and Ngaati Whanaunga sit on the PAB. They each play a full part in the governance of the project, including helping to establish Key Result Areas (KRAs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and hold the Alliance accountable for their delivery. Iwi partners will also be represented in the management of the project, and across all its aspects.
O Mahurangi
"Mōkau ki runga Tāmaki ki raro Mangatoatoa ki waenganui Pare Waikato, Pare Hauraki Te Kaokaoroa ō Pātetere Me te nehenehenui"
This project has been gifted the name O Mahurangi which refers to Mahurangi who is an ancestress of Tainui waka and was a renowned tohunga (high priestess).
Mahurangi gave karakia to the Atua for guidance and protection of her people as they embarked on their journey from their ancient homelands of Hawaiki to Tāmaki, Aotearoa and the lands known today as Whangapāraoa.
Rangatira, Te Warena Taua, gifted the name O Mahurangi to the new transport project which runs from Whangaparāoa to Paeroaroa (Redvale). The name, in his words, is an ancient name belonging to the rohe (district or tribal boundary) of Ngāti Manuhiri, Te Kawerau ā Maki and Tainui whānui as the descendants of the eponymous ancestor Maki from whom the name Tā Maki comes.
The project is framed by the rivers of Wēiti and Ōkura, the maunga Pukekauere, and the bay of Karepiro including Ōtaimaro and Te Ringa Kaha ā Manu – all of which speak to the history of the descendants of Maki and his people.
The project, O Mahurangi, will provide a new corridor, bridges and pathways that move people in ways that:
- Whakamana and respect our past
- Recognise the unique cultural landscape
- Anchor our whakapapa - connecting people to place
- Protect the whenua and moana
- Manāki those on the journey
- Provide a positive legacy for future generations.
