Scorched timber at the entrance to Te Wharehou o Waikaremoana is a chilling echo of the government's burning of Tuhoe homes, but for Tina Wagner the building where she greets visitors to Te Uruwera National Park is an uplifting place.
"We built this building in the hope this building might build us," she said.
"It is the first building we have had here since our people were removed back in the 1900s from around the lake and taken to reserves, one of which I grew up on.
"Although we were physically removed we have always had that connection. This building represents a tangible representation of Tuhoe's return to the lake shores after many years away.
"For myself this building is about hope. It is about saying to ourselves as an iwi that, if we put our minds to it and follow through, this is what we are able to produce.