Kapi Mana 24.01.1989

Parumoana Community Polytechnic welcomed its new associate director Deardrie Dale with a Māori powhiri on the 24^th January 1989.

Mrs Dale was acting associate director and HOD of technical and community studies at Wanganui Community College.  She replaced Margorie Truong who transferred to a Department of Education position.

Porirua's Polytechnic faces name change

Te Awa-iti 10.03.1989

Parumoana Community Polytechnic were again faced with having to decide on a name change.

At a Polytechnic Council meeting, Ngatitoa elders, Harata Solomon and Puoho Katene put their reasons for now calling the Polytechnic Whitireia.  The name, although considered seriously in a long public debate was not chosen when the Polytechnic first opened because the name Parumoana was recommended by the Takapuwahia Marae Committee.  The council accepted their opinion in good faith.

However the two kaumatua present at the council meeting of the polytechnic explained that this Māori did not represent all the Iwi of the area or all functions of the committee.

The name Whitireia suggests a looking over the horizon to the light and glow of a new place of learning coming into our community.  The literal, spiritual and cultural meaning is all important to us.

Kapi Mana 11.04.1989

Two Parumoana Community College business studies courses graduates received the National Certificate in Business Studies.  Lisa van Rijswijk (left) and Patricia McBride-Wilson were presented with their certificates by Parumoana's associate director Dierdre Dale.  The course took two years with 14 entrants originally and three tutors.   

Source not known 09.1989

Porirua’s Parumoana Polytechnic was given a new name.  From September 1989, the four-year-old institution was to be known as Whitireia Community Polytechnic.

Polytechnic Council chairman Tino Meleisea said the name change was first suggested by the area's tangata whenua, Ngati Toa, in 1988 and had been discussed at length since then.

Ngati Toa gave the polytechnic its first name in 1985 but Mr Meleisea mentioned kaumatua said Whitireia was a more appropriate name now because the regional nature of the name tied in with the polytechnic's responsibility to extend its services to locations as far away as Waikanae.

Whitireia is the Māori name for Mt Cooper in Titahi Bay and from the top it is possible to see all of the polytechnic's area.

The name means "onrushing brilliance from a luminous source; a source of light, or rays engulfing light".   

Evening Post 25.09.1989

Part of the Whitireia Polytechnic's four-year battle for permanent buildings was won when its first permanent building officially opened in September of 1989.

The polytechnic had taught its students in prefabricated buildings since it opened in 1986.  The new building took a year to build and cost about $2.1 million.

It is in the shape of two touching circles, which house the administration centre, the library and a teachers' resource centre.

One circle was named after Governor-General Sir Paul Reeves, the other after Pacific Island Affairs Minister Russell Marshall.  Both were guests of honour at the opening ceremony.