Te Whai Ao - The Dodd-Walls Centre officially recognised the gift of it’s te reo Māori name on Friday, 3 March.
6/3/2023
Honorable guests, including the Mayor of Dunedin, Jules Radich, Upoko Rūnanga o Ōtakou Edward Ellison, Centre Director David Hutchinson, incoming Director, Frédérique Vanholsbeeck, and Associate Director Māori Katharina Ruckstuhl gathered for the hui at Ōtakou Marae on the Otago Peninsula for the auspicious event.
Te Whai Ao represents the first beams of phosphorescent light that break through the darkness of the night and herald the coming of a new day. This saying is part of the Māori creation story, “Mai te Kore, ki te Pō, ki te Whai Ao, ki te Ao Mārama”, “From the nothingness to the dark night, to the glimmer of light, to the bright light of day”. Among other things, the phrase is used as an analogy for learning, with someone being in a state of te Kore when they have absolutely no knowledge of a particular subject, right through the stages of learning, te Pō, to the initial early grasp of the concept, te Whai Ao, to enlightenment, te Ao Mārama.
Photo credit: Sharron Bennett. Members and delegates attending the Ceremony at Ōtākau Marae.
The Otago Daily Times reported the occasion : https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/centre%e2%80%99s-new-m%c4%81ori-name-announced
