Marae will be built, archdeacon told

Press, 23 October 1984, Page 34

Marae will be built, archdeacon told

NZPA staff correspondent Sydney The Ven. Kingi Ihaka struck gold within hours of arriving in Sydney on. Saturday for a three-year mission, when he was given a public pledge that a longawaited marae would be built before he returns home. Mr Jim Lynch, Mayor of the outer western Sydney suburb of Blacktown told Archdeacon Ihaka and his party that the marae would De built in a new park being established to mark Australia’s bicentenary. The promise came during a colourful and often emotional welcome for the first Maori Anglican minister to be posted across the Tasman to tend the spiritual needs of an estimated 16,000 Maori Anglicans.. State, city, the police, and diplomatic representatives, as well as members of other religious denominations, turned out to greet Archdeacon Ihaka and his party at a hui in Blacktown. It was after welcomes by Cook Eland,- Maori, and Aboriginal groups that Mr Lynch made his marae pledge. There have been several attempts to establish a marae in Sydney for the estimated 30,000 Maoris liv-

ing in New South Wales, but all have failed, the last two efforts costing their supporters a reputed JNZI.72 million. Mr Lynch said he would seek help from Blacktown’s sister city, Porirua, in setting up the marae and a meeting house in the new Nuringingy Park. A delegation from the city visited Porirua in May to exchange documents linking the two cities and Mr Lynch said later that one of

the committee rooms in the city’s new council chambers had already been named the Porirua Room and would be decorated with Maori motifs. . The New Zealand High Commissioner to Australia, Sir Laurie Francis, pledged the support of the New Zealand Government for Archdeacon Ihaka, and the New South Wales Minister for Youth and Recreation, Mr Frank Walker, offered his Government’s backing.