Te Mauri o Pukekohe

Whaea Tina Beazely from Pukekohe Central Kindergaten, has been a long time supporter of what we have been trying to do in Pukekohe. She reached out us to see if we could give their wall a coat of paint. It took us a while to finally paint their wall but in February 2024 we got it finished in time for their 70th anniversary. We used the story from the book “He Atua, He Tangata: The World of Maori Mythology”. It is about a stone which held the mauri of Pukekohe. A beautiful purakau with a tragic ending.

This is the first time I have designed a mural (I am a photographer by trade) but I think we did okay! I say “we” because I leaned heavily on art students Tyler, Jaide and Kayleen for their honest feedback. We used the left over paint from the other murals in the town and we had some paint donated by a lovely father from the centre.

I would just like to thank the lovely people at PCK; Whaea Tina, Matua Ross, Whaea Christine and their tamariki who helped paint their wall. A huge thank you to our friends from church, PHS kaiako who brought a squad of rangatahi to paint in the hot heat of January, our rangatahi who were walking past and wanted to help - who came back on multiple occasions and my dear friend Tyler Poa who has been here for the whole journey of this project.

The mural was blessed on Saturday 16th of March by kaumatua Russell Riki. Whaea Tina is also the first Māori Head Teacher of PCK and we are so incredibly humbled to be a part of hers and their journey.

Catherine Tamihere