He Tipuna Whakahirahira

He Tipuna Whakahirahira records a collective memory of the Whakaruruhau Project - the carving of ancestral poupou erected at the Te Whanau-a-Apanui Area School in 1985 to commemorate the school's centenary (1875-1975).

During the early 1980s kaumatua and scholars decided which ancestors and which oral traditions should be carved to represent each of the 13 Te Whanau-a-Apanui subtribes. Roka Paora encouraged and guided her granddaughter, Parehau Richards, to use their tribal language to write. They used the structure of Roka's waiata, 'Marumaru', to show their passion to embrace, to extend, and to pass down the scholarship of their ancestors in an iwi-centric, Apanui way.