In another beautifully refurbished old wooden building of Tauranga is Okorore: Nga Toi Maori. The faded plate on the front wall says “Faulkner House”. It is the former home of one of Tauranga’s early colonial traders John Lees Faulkner and his first wife Ruawahine Irihapeti If you have the opportunity to visit the house resited within the Tauranga Historic Village you can see and touch history while you view art.

https://www.theincubator.co.nz/okorore-nga-toi-maori

You can also find information online about the Faulkner Family and the history of their home Okorore. You’ll see one of the articles noted how John Lees Faulkner did not want his children to follow Maori custom or to speak te reo Maori. The wikitree article contains Faulkner’s obituary.

http://tauranga.kete.net.nz/tauranga_local_history/topics/show/1300-john-lees-faulkner-1807-1882

https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1f2/faulkner-john-lees

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Faulkner-793

“Let no-one say the past is dead.

“The past is all about us and within.”

Oodgeroo Noonuccal

Rosemary Balu. Rosemary Balu is the founding and current Managing Editor of ARTbop. Rosemary has arts and law degrees from the University of Auckland. She has been a working lawyer and has participated in a wide variety of community activities where information gathering, submission writing, community advocacy and education have been involved. Interested in all forms of the arts since childhood Rosemary is focused on further developing and expanding multi-media ARTbop as the magazine for all the creative arts in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand.