One year after his death, the spirit of Mauriora Kingi has returned to the Rotorua Lakes Council chamber.
It was delivered in the form of Tatau Pounamu (greenstone door), a patu paraoa (short handled weapon made of whalebone), originally gifted to the council's Te Tatau o Te Arawa Board in December last year during an official ceremony to recognise the iwi's new partnership with the council.
Tatau Pounamu was made by master carver Lewis Gardiner and gifted to the board by Te Arawa hapu Tuhourangi-Ngati Wahiao and Ngati Tamateatutahi-Kawiti and was today re-dedicated to the memory of Mr Kingi and the role he played in helping found the new board.
Among his many other roles, Mr Kingi was a Te Arawa kaumatua and Rotorua Lakes Council kaupapa Maori director and had just been appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit when he died suddenly on June 5 last year aged 53.