Ngāi Tahu is celebrating a significant achievement: Huriawa Peninsula, a headland on the Ōtākou coast, is the first Māori historic site in the region to be granted tohu whenua (landmark) designation.
Tohu Whenua is a visitor programme that connects New Zealanders with their unique heritage and enhances their sense of national identity by promoting significant historical and cultural sites.
Sites chosen as tohu whenua are places that have shaped the nation and created defining stories.
Launched in 2016, the programme is successfully operating in three regions – Te Tai Tokerau, Otago and Te Tai Poutini West Coast. The goal is to roll out tohu whenua throughout New Zealand.
Local Ngāi Tahu papatipu rūnanga Kāti Huirapa ki Puketeraki is thrilled that the rich cultural history of the area will be recognised and celebrated through this new tohu whenua protection.
“It’s another overlay reinforcing our stories and providing an opportunity for our stories to be told by us and understood and appreciated by the wider community,” Kāti Huirapa ki Puketeraki chairman Matapura Ellison says.
“The only Māori tohu whenua in our region makes the point of difference,” Ellison says.
“It is good for the community generally as well. Shopping will benefit. Currently my tours may benefit, and, hopefully we’ve given an enhanced appreciation,” he says.
Huriawa Pā was also called Te Pā o Te Wera, Te Wera being a warrior from Te Ruahikihiki who fought Taoka, his cousin, over Huriawa.
The river turns around at a particular point, and the name “Huriawa” comes from the belief held by the whānau that a natural event caused the river to go up the eastern side of the peninsula.
As part of the 1998 Claims Settlement, the peninsula was returned to Ngāi Tahu, and Te Papa Atawhai (the Department of Conservation) and Ngāi Tahu have been managing it jointly ever since.
Pouhere Taonga kaihautū Māori Dean Whiting says a combination of representatives from Te Papa Atawhai (DoC), Heritage New Zealand and the Ministry of Culture and Heritage decide which areas deserve the status.
“It’s always been seen as a really important place for the tohu whenua programme because it meets the criteria. It is a place of significance, remembering that it was actually listed in 2011 as a wāhi area,” Whiting says.
Ngāi Tahu is also expected to get another tohu whenua, this one from the Waitaha region.
