Every year we like to unwind, let our hair down a bit and have a bit of fun. We like to take the time to celebrate our successes and to have a bit of a laugh at ourselves. Our end of year celebrations gives us an opportunity to acknowledge those unsung heroes who work behind the scenes or work quietly towards our successes. It’s an opportunity to acknowledge that although it has been a lot of hard work, it has also been a fun and incredibly rewarding year. It is a time to reflect on the year past and look forward to the year ahead.
This year was the 10th year since we first entered Te Hautoka as King’s and Queen’s High Schools. There are so many memories, performances, people and places that it is difficult to single out any. The first iteration of He Waka Kōtuia was in 2005 when we entered Hautonga with students from King’s High School, Otago Girls’ and Boys’ High Schools and 5 rakatahi who were being home-schooled. 2009 was the first time King’s and Queen’s worked together for quite some time and we continued to build from there.
In that 10 years we have achieved some major feats:
2010: Hosted the National Ngā Manu Kōrero Speech Competitions.
2010: Had three speakers from Queen’s High School represent at the Ngā Manu Kōrero Speech Competition.
2012: First Dunedin group to perform on the national stage. We placed 11th in te reo Māori and 29th for Mōteatea.
2013: First outright win in our regional Hautonga Kapa Haka competition.
2015: Entered a team into the Iron Māori in Napier.
2016: First cruise ship performance
2016: Developed in to the He Waka Kōtuia Charitable Trust.
2017: Developed Waewae Kai Pakiaka.
2017: Organised and led our first Kura Reo Rakatahi as HWK Trust.
2017: Catered for Kura Reo ki Te Waipounamu.
2017: Conducted our own Anzac Day commemoration with the hapū at Ōtākou.
2017: Travelled to Canada for an Indigenous Exchange.
2017: One of our alumni achieved a very special personal goal, graduating from Te Panekiretanga o te Reo Māori.
2018: Placed 26th in the country at the national Kapa Haka Kura Tuarua Competition in New Plymouth. This was our fourth appearance at Nationals in as many years.
2018: Instigated the Takere Polyfest performance group.
2018: Clean sweep of the 4 categories at the regional Ngā Manu Kōrero Competition.
2018: 2nd place for our Junior te reo Māori speaker at Ngā Manu Kōrero National competition.
2019: Released a bi-lingual album Te Mahi Tamariki.
2019: Expanded our performance radius, travelling to Queenstown for the first time for a whakatau and performance
2019: The establishment of Te Pae Māhuri, Dunedin Māori Youth Council.
We have had countless mihi whakatau supporting Ōtākou Marae, the DCC, the University of Otago, the Otago Museum and performances in that time, averaging one a day for 10 years.
We have rubbed shoulders with the Dalai Lama; the Royals, William and Kate; Prime Ministers, the All Blacks numerous times, the Kiwi League team, international sports stars of many different sports, Governor Generals, Experts in te reo Māori, Mayors, the Chancellor and Pro Vice Chancellor of the University of Otago and many others.
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