On Tuesday, 21 February, we held an intimate blessing for our newest building Te Turanga o Koura.

This is an RHS learning space that has been modelled on a wharenui, and has been designed in conjunction with mana whenua Ngāti Wairere.

Koura was a fierce Ngāti Wairere wahine toa, the daughter of Tainui rangatira Paoa, and wife Tauhakari. Koura defended her pā after her brothers were killed, with her taiaha Huakatoa. Koura buried the sacred taiaha, Huakatoa, on the peak of Mount Hangawera, towards Matamata. Her descendants established the traditional lands of Ngati Koura. Ngati Koura became numerous and prosperous and constructed a number of pā, not only along the Waikato River, within what is now the Hamilton City boundaries, but as far afield as Te Awamutu. When Koura died her bones were deposited in a burial cave named Katokato near Taupiri. The location of this cave is still known to her descendants.