Post #552357 by Club Nouméa on Sun, Sep 5, 2010 11:42 PM

Part 4: St Mary's Church & Te Rau Oriwa Marae

Behind the Whanganui Regional Museum is St Mary's Church:

The church itself features a traditional Maori gate:

Attached to the church is the Te Rau Oriwa Marae:

Here are some shots of the gate leading into the marae's grounds:

And there is another gate leading into the building once you get inside the grounds:

Some detailed views:

A kaumatua (elder) was kind enough to allow me inside to take photos of the interior:

The interior carvings all date from 1991. I would have liked to get explanations of who the various figures represented, but the kaumatua was busy organising a social event, so I didn't bother him and just quietly snapped a pile of photos.

Here is a general view of the interior:

Various shots of the central pillar:

And some shots of the interior walls, working from right to left if you refer back to the photo of the general view of the interior:

The woven panels were interesting. They were actually made using hardboard pegboard (available from a hardware store near you...), with the fabric woven in and out of the holes.

That concludes Part 4 of the Wanganui Tiki Tour. In Part 5, we go moa hunting...

CN