The NZ Army National Marae has been based at its site in Waiouru since 1994 and is a place that all members of our organisation pass though at some stage of service and serves as a place to promote cross-cultural understanding.  Used as a community facility, it is also a place for teaching, learning, celebrating and mourning.

Church services, tangihanga, weddings, christenings, promotions, and kawemate (memorial) services have all been held on the Marae, as have a number of significant powhiri (welcome) and poroporoaki (farewell), where all personnel departing for overseas deployments attend a ceremony on the Marae.

Protocol:

• The military kawa is to comply with the aim, which is the combining and acknowledgement of all cultures, and therefore the acceptance of all languages.
• The military wear uniform applicable to the situation and the paepae (speakers) are occupied by all cultures.
• The speakers are chosen in accordance with the status and cultural sensitivity of those being welcomed on to the Marae.

“On 30 July, 1994 we demonstrated our warrior ethic yet again. As one team, soldiers old and new, retired and serving, we picked up our house, our mantle, and carried it with tears and seat, and the joy of the mission to its true anchored formation in accordance with the moemoea (vision). The weight of our house on our backs reminded us that it is the soldiers' lot to carry their “houses” on their backs and move willingly to the nation's call. So too do we affirm that we are Ngati Tumatauenga – The Landless, for our duty is to the whole land without compromise” – Eruera Brown (Army Marae Administrator)