Some 123 years after it was nearly destroyed in the Mt Tarawera eruption, the only Maori meeting house in the United Kingdom is headed for restoration.
Britain's heritage conservation organisation, the National Trust, is looking for stg200,000 (NZ$523,000) to repair and refurnish the meeting house, Hinemihi o te Ao Tawhito (Hinemihi of the Old World).
The restoration committee is discussing extending it to its original size, replacing the thatched roof with New Zealand materials, refurbishing more than 20 large carvings, laying down a floor, and commissioning carved and woven pieces for the interior.
The meeting house has been standing in the grounds of the trust's Clandon Park property near Guildford in Surrey, about 65km from London, for 117 years.
It was taken to Britain in 1892 by William Hillier, 4th Earl of Onslow, who bought it for stg50 ($NZ130) while Governor General of New Zealand. He used it as a boat house.
It had been standing empty for six years in the ruins of Te Wairoa, a small village near Rotorua -- the only structure left standing when Mt Tarawera erupted on June 10, 1886.
The village was buried with volcanic ash and other debris from the mountain 3km away, and over 100 people killed.
Everyone who sheltered in Hinemihi survived, because long benches in the meeting house were used to prop up its roof.
Jim Schuster, a Maori heritage advisor with New Zealand's Historic Places Trust and great grandson of Tene Waitere, one of Hinemihi's original carvers, said it was important to UK-based Maori.
"For British-based Maori visitors to Clandon Park, Hinemihi is more than just a reminder of home.
"She has become their adopted meeting house, a place to visit either as individuals, with families or in large groups to remember and celebrate their ancestors, family and culture."
