Kaiwhaiki is a settlement upriver from

Whanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Kaiwhaiki in the 1840s was a small

pā The word pā (; often spelled pa in English) can refer to any Māori village or defensive settlement, but often refers to hillforts – fortified settlements with palisades and defensive terraces – and also to fortified villages. Pā sites o ...

of a two to three dozen people. In Ronaldson's 1847 survey, the inhabitants were noted as being of the

hapū In Māori and New Zealand English, a ' ("subtribe", or "clan") functions as "the basic political unit within Māori society". A Māori person can belong to or have links to many hapū. Historically, each hapū had its own chief and normally opera ...

Ngāti Rongomaitawhiri. In 1852 Kaiwhaiki became the first settlement on the

Whanganui River The Whanganui River is a major river in the North Island of New Zealand. It is the country's third-longest river, and has special status owing to its importance to the region's Māori people. In March 2017 it became the world's second natura ...

to host a Catholic mission. By the early 1860s, it was described as a "large pa" and its population were mostly Kingites, opposed to the colonial government. Kaiwhaiki is the home of the Ngā Paerangi

of the

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi; their unique twin-gabled

wharenui A wharenui (; literally "large house") is a communal house of the Māori people of New Zealand, generally situated as the focal point of a ''marae''. Wharenui are usually called meeting houses in New Zealand English, or simply called ''whare'' ( ...

Te Kiritahi was built in 1912. It was the birthplace of composer and choirmaster

Morvin Simon Morvin Te Anatipa Simon (1944 – 14 May 2014) was a New Zealand Māori composer, kapa haka leader, choirmaster and historian. Biography Born at Kaiwhaiki marae on the Whanganui River, Simon was of Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, Ngāti Apa and ...

, who led the nationally known Kaiwhaiki-based

kapa haka Kapa haka is the term for Māori action songs and the groups who perform them. It literally means 'group' () and 'dance' (). Kapa haka is an important avenue for Māori people to express and showcase their heritage and cultural Polynesian identi ...

group Te Matapihi. A quarry near Kaiwhaiki supplied the shellrock used to build the Durie Hill war memorial tower in Whanganui.

Marae

Kaiwhaiki currently has three

marae A ' (in New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan), ' (in Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the term a ...

: * Kaiwhaiki Marae and Te Kiritahi, Te Kiritahi or Rongotepoi meeting house are affiliated with Ngā Paerangi * Rākato Marae and Rākato meeting house are affiliated with Ngāti Hine o Te Rā * Whangaehu Marae and its Rangitahuahua meeting house are affiliated with

Ngāti Apa Ngāti Apa is a Māori iwi (tribe) in Rangitikei District of New Zealand. Its rohe (traditional tribal lands) extend between the Mangawhero, Whangaehu, Turakina and Rangitīkei rivers. This area is bounded by Whanganui River in the north-west, ...

In October 2020, the Government committed $377,123 from the

Provincial Growth Fund Shane Geoffrey Jones (born 3 September 1959) is a New Zealand politician. He served as a New Zealand First list MP from 2017 to 2020 and was previously a Labour list MP from 2005 to 2014. Jones was a cabinet minister in the Fifth Labour Gove ...

to restore and renovate the Whangaehu Marae, creating 24 jobs.

References

Whanganui River Populated places in Manawatū-Whanganui Settlements on the Whanganui River Whanganui District {{ManawatuWanganui-geo-stub