 In December 1974, a pākeha man by the name of Joseph "Taffy" Williamson was murdered on Hopper Street in the Wellington suburb of Te Aro after he provoked 18 year old Rufus Marsh by yelling racial slurs.This led to media outrage and prompted then Mayor of Wellington, Michael Fowler, to visit Stewart.Fowler asked what could be done, and Stewart replied "we want to live Māori, that’s what the problem is, we want to live Māori.”

Stewart leased 24 hectares of land from the Home of Compassion and construction of the marae began, continuing for 30 years.