Museum trust chair Geremy Hema says the two-story Raiatea Resource Centre at Motuti Marae near Panguru was a 30-year dream for Pa Tate, who died in 2017.

He meticulously catalogued and ordered the 10,000 items, including church vestments and artefacts, taonga Maori carvings, weapons and cloaks, early photographs, letters and maps, and writings and recordings of significant tupuna.

Mr Hema says, as Pa Tate talked about in his waiata Karanga Hokianga, he wanted a place where uri could come back and tell their stories. Read more