In 1951 Elder Matthew Cowley, an LDS Apostle who worked closely with the Maori during his two missions in New Zealand and went on to oversee LDS missions on all Pacific islands, helped develop the concept along with Oahu Stake President Edward L. Clissold that would eventually become the Polynesian Cultural Center. Speaking at an Oahu Stake [a collection of wards] Conference meeting, Elder Cowley said:
I hope to see the day when my Maori people down there in New Zealand will have a little village at Laie with a beautiful carved house. The Tongans will have a village out there, and also the Tahitians. Samoans already have a start — all these islanders of the sea.
