Our marae is located in one of the most stunning hilltop settings in the Hauraki district, offering panoramic views of the Hauraki Gulf, the Waihou and Piako Rivers, the mountain ranges, and the vast flatlands of the Hauraki Plains leading into the interior.

The marae itself is built on an ancient pā site where astronomical knowledge was once taught. The site is steeped in history, where the Marutūāhu tribes overwhelmed the original inhabitants with a great loss of life.

This event left the land tapu (sacred) and unoccupied. The site remained largely untouched until 1878, when it was gifted by the Marutūāhu inhabitants for the establishment of a Native School.

The school closed in 1972, and the land was returned to the descendants of the original donors. They decided the land would become a marae, and in 1974 the block was registered through the Māori Land Court as a marae reservation for the people of Ngāti Maru, Ngāti Whanaunga, Ngāti Te Aute, Ngāti Hauāuru, and the people of the district.

Today, the marae complex includes the beautifully carved meeting house, Te Rama o Hauraki (“The Guiding Light of Hauraki”), an ancestral house representing our ancestor Marutūāhu. This is the first meeting house of its kind for Ngāti Maru since the famous Hotunui was removed from Parawai to the Auckland Museum in 1926. The adjacent wharekai (dining hall), Waiora, takes its name from Te Whakaoraora-ō-Tāne Te Waiora.

On clear, moonless nights, the stars wheel ceaselessly overhead as though enclosed within the dome of a living planetarium. The eye follows Kōpū (Venus rising) glowing above the darkened hills, travelling along Kōpūarahi (its ancient pathway) before descending beyond Maramarua (Double Moons) to its setting place at Meremere (Tū Ahiahi). To the south lie the constellations of Turua near Centaurus, with Matatoki sparkling nearby. To the north is Te Kupenga a Taramainuku, a cluster of stars surrounding the feet of Gemini, creating a celestial backdrop to the breathtaking beauty of our surroundings.