OUR WHAKAPAPA

Te Rōpū Māori emerged from the need to provide a social network support for

Māori students at The University of Otago, and act as a vehicle to advance tino

rangatiratanga within the context of tertiary education.

Since the 1960s, Te Rōpū Māori grew from a kapa haka group, into an

incorporated society in the mid-1990s. Those who established the association

had three aims, one recruitment, two creating a voice for tauira Māori and three,

results for Māori students. Essentially with the official establishment of Te Rōpū

Māori, it saw the advancement of tauira Māori through all divisions of the

University.

OUR LOGO

This is the Manaia that represents Te Rōpū Māori. It shows Tāne (left) the Atua (God) of the forest in this whakaahua. In Māori tradition it was Tāne who ascended to the uppermost level of heaven to bring back the "kete" of knowledge and wisdom from Io.

The spiral design set upon the tail piece of this picture represents the nurturing of all form's of life, and the dark spot's within the spiral are the seed's of life (Ngā kākano o te ora), the wellspring from which all knowledge come's.

The right figure is Tāwhirimātea - God of the Winds, who assisted Tāne in reaching "Matangireia" to ask of Io the three kete of knowledge and wisdom. The tailpiece of Tāwhiri represents the winds he created to lift Tāne into the heavens.

"KO TĀNE MĀHUTA RĀUA KO TĀWHIRIMĀTEA"