A haka group from Keebra Park State High School in Gold Coast, Australia, will perform at this year’s Polyfest festival for the first time.
Te Puna Mataatahi arrived in the country earlier this week ahead of their performance on the Māori stage on Thursday. Featuring 25 students, teacher and haka tutor Dean Harawira said the trip is a first on several accounts for most of them.
“Ko te tuatahitanga tēnei mō rātou ki te rere ki runga i te waka rererangi, ki te noho ki runga i te marae, a, ki te tū ki runga i te ātamira hei whakataetae kapa haka ki Polyfest.”
(It’s a first for some of them on a plane, to stay on a marae, and to stand on the kapa haka stage to compete at Polyfest)
The group were welcomed onto Ngā Kete Wānanga Marae at Manukau Institute of Technology. For students and kapa haka performers Meremaraea Tairea-Katipa (Tainui) and Marley Tauri (Ngāti Porou), there were a range of emotions.
“It was a bit overwhelming coming in, just experiencing the culture all over again, and the carvings and everything, and the marae is also beautiful,” said Tairea-Katipa.
Tauri said she felt a bit nervous and had goosebumps but was happy to “finally” be here.
Overall, they were excited to be in Aotearoa and looking forward to the experience.
“It’s just really nice, feeling like it’s kind of our time now as a group to connect back with our land, connect with our roots,” said Tairea-Katipa.
Many of the students were born in Australia to Māori or Pasifika parents but had no other connection with their culture, said Harawira.
“It’s a beautiful thing to see our kids connecting with their Māoritanga, their reo and their tikanga Māori.”
After Polyfest, the group would head south to hold school exchanges in Tauranga, Rotorua and Gisborne.
“Lots for the kids to look forward to and really looking forward to them connecting with their peers who are doing the same thing over.”
How kapa haka landed at a secondary school in Australia
Harawira started at Keebra Park State High School teaching music and was called in for a “bit of a kōrero” with the principal on how they could better engage with students, particularly with Māori and Pasifika students.
After he suggested the school start teaching them about their culture, he was given a pilot class, and it has “blown up” from there.
“We’ve got classes across year 7, 8, 9 and 10. All of them are full. We’ve got waiting lists for the classes. We just can’t get enough kids into the classes.
“We rolled out our senior programme this year and we had 80 kids sign up for 30 spots.
“It’s a big demand for our Māori and Pasifika kids back in on the Gold Coast. They want to be connected to their culture.”
He said they hoped the “Polyfest tour” would become a regular trip for students.
“We have a very high percentage of Māori and Pasifika students at our kura and that’s because it’s quite a very well-known rugby league school on the Gold Coast, and in Australia.
“We’ve produced big stars like Benji Marshall, Reece Walsh, you know, Payne Haas — there’s lots of NRL players who have been through Keebra Park State High School and so most of our kids are also rugby league players, and that serves as a wee bit of barrier for us because we’re always competing with rugby league.
“But the main goal is to try and make this an annual event, because we’ve got so much need for it over there on the Gold Coast.”
Te Puna Mataatahi would be performing on the Māori stage at Polyfest on Thursday at 4pm.
Te Karere has coverage of Polyfest every day this week at 4pm on TVNZ 1 — and Indira Stewart delves into the history books for an indepth look at the festival’s origins on TVNZ+.