Panorama of the former Maori Affairs Committee Room. The room contains portraits of significant Maori MPs, as well as a large facsimile of the Treaty of Waitangi. Includes hotspot link to information about Maori MPs.
A grid will appear while this movie downloads (about 1-2 mins
on a 56k dial-up connection). Once this disappears the movie has downloaded
and, with
the mouse pointer inside the image, click and drag to explore. Click
on the 
to see hotspot links. More panorama information.
These panoramas require QuickTime 5 or later to view.
Hear a related commentary by Wiremu Haunui, Kaiwhakamarama Reo for the Office of the Clerk (3min 10sec, 558k, mp3). Read a transcript of this file including English language version.
Transcript of commentary
A Matangireia, te Rūma o te Komiti Whiriwhiri Take Māori i mua
He rūma motuhake i takohatia ki te Komiti Whiriwhiri Take Māori (ko te Komiti Whiriwhiri Take Tangata Whenua i taua wā), ā, i whakatuwheratia te rūma nei i te tau 1922, i ngā whare o muri, i te otinga o te Whare Pāremata. I tae te Pirimia a Massey me āna minita ki te pōhiri a te iwi Māori, ā, i whai atu te hākari i te Whare Kāwanatanga tawhito. Ko ngā whakairo e tohu ana i te tomokanga i whakamaua ki tētahi o ngā pakitara, ā, ki runga anō hoki i ngā kaho o ngā whatitoka kia tika ai te rūma hei wāhi whakaemi tahitanga mai mō te Māori.
I whakahōungia anō te rūma i te tau 1955 i raro i ngā whakahaerenga o John Grace te hēkeretari motuhake ki te Minita Māori, ā, tētahi o ngā rangatira nō Ngāti Tūwharetoa, kia noho mai ai te rūma hei ‘wāhanga whakakitenga' a te Whare Pāremata. I whakapaipaitia te tuanui e ngā kōwhaiwhai whero me te mangu, i whakahōungia anō te kape tomokanga ki te whare rūnanga, ā, i whakatōroatia atu ngā tukutuku kia kapi katoa ai ngā pakitara. I whakamaua he tauira rahi o te Tiriti o Waitangi ki runga i tētahi o ngā pakitara, ā, i reira anō hoki ngā whakaahua whaikano mō ngā Mema Pāremata Māori rongonui a James Carroll, a Te Rangi Hīroa, a Māui Pōmare, a Apirana Ngata. Ā, kua tāpiritia atu ngā whakaahua o nā noa nei o Eruera Tirikātene me Matiu Rata.
Whai atu ana i ngā mahi whakapaipaitanga anō me te hanganga o tētahi rūma hōu rahi atu (a Māui Tikitiki-a-Taranga), mō te Komiti Whiriwhiri Take Māori i tētahi tūnga mataho rawa atu i ngā whare, ka whakatuwheratia anō te rūma nei i te tau 1996. I hoatu te ingoa Matangireia (Te Rangi 13 tō runga rawa) ki te rūma, otirā, ki te wāhi nei e tūtaki katoa ai ngā iwi i raro i te maru o te rongomau, te ngākau tapatahi, me te āio.
Matangireia, former Māori Affairs Committee Room
A special room dedicated to the Māori Affairs Committee (then the Native Affairs Committee) was opened in 1922 at the rear of the buildings when Parliament House was completed. Prime Minister Massey and his ministers attended the Māori ceremony which was followed by a banquet in the old Government House. Carvings denoting the entrance to a whare rūnanga were fixed to a wall and on the architraves of the doors to make the room appropriate for Māori to come together.
The room was renovated in 1955 under the supervision of John Grace, the private secretary to the Minister of Māori Affairs and a Tūwharetoa chief, to become a ‘show part of Parliament Buildings'. Red and black kōwhaiwhai decorated the ceiling and cornices, the replica whare rūnanga entrance was restored, and tukutuku was extended around the walls. A large panel reproducing the Treaty of Waitangi was mounted on a wall, which also displayed coloured portraits of notable Māori MPs James Carroll, Te Rangi Hīroa (Peter Buck), Māui Pōmare and Apirana Ngata. More recently portraits of Eruera Tirikātene and Matiu Rata have been added.
Following refurbishment and the creation of a larger new room for the Māori Affairs Committee ( Māui Tikitiki-a-Taranga) in a more prominent position in the buildings, this room was reopened in 1996. It was given the name Matangireia (thirteenth and uppermost heaven) where all iwi could meet in a place endowed with feelings of peace, harmony and tranquillity.
Panorama location map
The numbers on this map correspond to the panoramas listed on this page.