The marae is a focal institution for the development and maintenance of cultural heritage and language.  The marae represents the physical, spiritual and symbolic centre for the conduct of tribal affairs.   It is here that authority, land, papakainga, cultural heritage and customs all lend character to a marae, help shape its purpose and give substance to a community’s prestige or mana.  The whare tupuna (ancestral house) is Tumutumwhenua, named after Ngati Whatua’s earliest ancestor.

The turbulent experiences of the past in relation to the marae have impacted severely on Ngati Whatua o Orakei.  In brief, prior to 1951 the hapu had its papakainga in Okahu Bay surrounding the whare tupuna – Te Puru o Tamaki.  However, as a result of government policy, Ngati Whatua o Orakei were evicted from the papakainga with their homes and the marae burnt to the ground.  They were relocated to state homes in Kitemoana St, the hill above Okahu Bay.  For the next 40 years, Ngati Whatua o Orakei would not have a marae of their own.

In 1959, the Crown set aside land near the state homes for a marae, not for Ngati Whatua o Orakei, but for ‘the use and benefit of all Maori’.  Ngati Whatua o Orakei had no control of it and in the events that followed, the hapu was to witness the takeover of their culture, as a marae was built and named by others. 

It was not until 1991 that the marae was returned to Ngati Whatua o Orakei as part of the Crown response to the Waitangi Tribunal claim lodged before them.  The Orakei Act 1991 was passed, returning the marae, papakainga lands and the church and urupa to Ngati Whatua o Orakei.

Today, Ngati Whatua o Orakei has control and ownership of the marae and consequently continues to resurrect, reactivate and articulate the customs, language and cultural heritage particular to the hapu.  The marae is the only ancestral marae on the central Tamaki isthmus and continues to exercise the customary obligations to host and welcome national and international visitors to Tamaki Makaurau.