Muriwai Community Association (MCA) is a resident-based group formed 50 years ago to promote and develop community amenities in Muriwai.

New members welcome! By joining as a member, you will have full voting rights at each AGM, A chance to have your say and impact the future of Muriwai

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AGM Minutes June 2025

Minutes

Financial Statement

What is Neighbour Net?

Neighbour Net is a community-led movement that will be aligned and associated with the

National Neighbourhood Support organisation, which has as its objective the creation of safe,

resilient and connected communities.

Our Goal

Our primary aim is to create a comprehensive Muriwai Community Resilience Plan. This plan

will help ensure everyone knows how to respond effectively when the next natural event impacts Muriwai. A well-connected community enhances safety and well-being.

How You Can Help: Become a Coordinator

We are looking for volunteers from across the village to take on the role of neighbourhood

coordinators. A lot of Muriwai villagers will already have an organic connection – others might

want to discover who lives nearby.

Being a coordinator would involve an initial catch-up; recruiting from around your patch,

and maybe later on organising small immediate neighbourhood events to gather neighbours

together. We aim to organise clusters of 6 to 10 houses, depending on location. If you’re

interested, please fill out this form, and we will contact you.

Get Involved

Be part of Muriwai’s future and help build a safe, resilient, and connected community.

Email us at: gillgraham99@gmail.com

Currently, 34 Domain Crescent is owned by the Auckland Council due to the fact it was given Category 3 status following the cyclone and slips of February 2023 - then subsequently bought out by the Council. The cottage structure is not damaged in any way. Removal from the site is pending. Should this happen, it would mean the loss of a significant taonga from Muriwai.

What we aim to achieve here is to retain the historic cottage at 34 Domain Crescent within our whenua, to preserve our heritage and help build our community’s future. Importantly, this cottage links to the generous gifts from Sir Edwin Mitchelson of land that is Muriwai Regional Park.

Proposal and history

A huge thank you to iwi for listening and providing this amazing opportunity. Malcolm Paterson, CEO of Ngā Maunga Whakahī o Kaipara Ngahere Ltd (NMWoKN), the commercial organisation of Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara, presented information about the 12-month trial for authorised access to Woodhill Forest at the Muriwai Community Association Meeting on 2 March 2025.

• NMWoKN Ltd offered a 12-month trial for authorised access to Woodhill Forest in a specific area in Muriwai.
• The initiative, Hīkoi Ngātahi (Walking Together), reflected the spirit of Ngāti Whātua and the wider community working and walking together.
• The programme was modelled on the existing arrangement for the Kake Hoiho horse riding club (woodhillforest.co.nz/equestrian-access), with members subscribing via the Ngā Maunga Whakahī o Kaipara Ngahere website.
• NMWoKN invested significant funds and resources into systems, processes, and signage for the trial -- including website management, subscriptions, signage, and track maintenance. No small undertaking.
• A range of paid membership categories was made available.
• Dogs were welcome, provided they were well controlled.
• The Hīkoi Ngātahi initiative officially opened in April 2025.

The success of the trial depended on things like the frequency and type of incidents, membership numbers, environmental impact, and the quality of interactions between members, the odd trespasser, and NMWoKN staff. It was a genuine partnership -- and it needed the community to show up for it.

We were proud to see this initiative come to life. Nearly a year in, and it's been something to watch.

Head to the website to sign up.

We have been in hibernation during the summer months and didn’t do any planting. 

Happy to report that we lost less than 10% of our plants, which is great. Some were eaten by deer, and some just didn’t grow.

Since November, with the help of Muriwai Weedwalkers, we have gone back to 181 Motutara Rd and did some weeding around the plants. Another weedwalkers session was on one of the Scars on DC where we concentrated on Woolly Nightshade weeds.

And just this week we had our own Richard Wright (Chair of MET) bring his LottoNZ Data Analytics team out to Muriwai, and they did some weeding around the plants on 232 Motutara Rd and 181 Motutara Rd.

Weather permitting, we are hoping to have our first planting day mid to late March.

If you would like to get involved please email zak.bogdan@gmail.com or txt/call 02040766528

View plan here

The Artist – Jeff Thomson

Jeff Thomson is a well-known New Zealand artist best known for his sculptural works fabricated from corrugated iron and salvaged materials. His artistic and sculptural pieces can be found in public and private collections throughout Australasia and globally. His corrugated Holden Kingswood calls Te Papa home, his public toilet is the pride of his local community in Helensville while his life-size giraffe strides the Gibbs sculpture park on the shores of the Kaipara Harbour. Jeff’s proximity to Muriwai, his long-time involvement with the Muriwai art community and his experience in making Public Sculpture make Jeff the obvious choice for this project.

Sculpture Location

The sculpture is located in the grassy area next to the Muriwai Ranger’s station, at the corner of Motutara and Waitea Rd. This location is close to the heart of the community, and it is also a secluded spot ideal for reflection, with picnic tables already in place, and plenty of parking and amenities nearby.

The Sculpture Concept

'The sculpture is a series of eight free-standing columns, or Pou. People can walk through and around the sculpture. One piece is low to the ground, for people to use as seating. Viewers can walk between and around the uprights, and touch and photograph them. Given the scale of the space, the tallest column would stand between 3.5 metres tall and remain outside the drip line and beneath the height of the surrounding trees.

The final sculpture design is a product largely of the materials that have been made available by the Trow Group from the deconstruction of the Category 3 Muriwai homes. The final work incorporates community art initiatives from the weeks following the Cyclone, such as the Muriwai ‘Love Letters’ and Mette Hay’s ‘Muriwai Voices’, alongside the mosaics created in the November 2023 community mosaics workshops