The people of Kaiwhaiki Marae along the Whanganui River are celebrating the centenary of their tribal meeting house, Te Kiritahi.
Saturday 1 December marks 100 years since the wharepuni was opened in 1912.
A Nga Paerangi kaumatua, Morvin Simon, says Te Kiritahi's origins started much earlier in the 1880s and is closely linked to Parihaka in Taranaki.
He says the meeting house itself was actually his great-grand parent's house but they gifted it to the hapu and ever since then it has been the home base for Nga Paerangi.
Mr Simon says the unique twin-gabled meeting house was originally a single one and was first called Whakahawea - which comes from a proverb about the Parihaka prophets Tohu and Te Whiti.
He says the 100th anniversary is about acknowledging the wharepuni as being a repository of both spiritual and physical treasures.
Mr Simon says there has been lots of renovation work done recently to make sure it stands for another 100 years.
