HAWKE'S BAY

Preserving a site of significance – from left Annemarie Gillies, HNZPT; Xavier Forde, Ministry for Culture and Heritage, formerly with HNZPT, Kosha-Joy Kamau and Pua Taumata on a site visit to Te Kohatu o Rīpeka at Mahia.

Te Kohatu o Rīpeka listed as a wāhi tapu

A recently listed wāhi tapu site along the banks of a stream is rich with cultural heritage and significance for several communities.

WORDS: David Watt, Annemarie Gillies and Niki Partsch IMAGES: Liz Smith, Wairoa Star

In the Northern Hawke's Bay, the Kopuawhara stream runs southwards towards the Mahia Peninsula. Poised and for ceremonial purposes like baptism. He acknowledged the current landowner, Ray Hine, for his support. elegantly at the rim of a deep clear pool of water along its banks is a large white-grey rock of significant cultural heritage. Te Kohatu o Rīpeka is a marker for an area which has deep spiritual connection for local Māori. A proposal which sought protection for this site was put forward by Kura Hapi-Smith in December 2020 and endorsed by the trustees/kaumātua of the Ngai Te Rakato Marae committee. In July 2021, our Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Board recognised the heritage significance of the place and confirmed it as wāhi tapu. It's the second listing on the Rārangi Kōrero/New Zealand Heritage List for the area. The first lies just a little further downstream at the site of the Kopuawhara Railway Viaduct. It was here in 1938 that tragedy struck when a deluge of rain sent a wall of water into the public works camp causing the loss of 21 lives. Pua Taumata says he is elated that Te Kohatu o Rīpeka has been listed as a wāhi tapu area and explains that it will always be available for recreational swimming “Te Kohatu o Rīpeka has healing powers,” says Pua. “It was a place where young women who wore moko kauae distinguished themselves as future leaders. It was a place where wahine Māori graduated from the wānanga of Rakauwhakatangitangi which is the maunga above Te Kohatu o Rīpeka.” Dr Annemarie Gillies, our Pou Rārangi Kōrero/Maōri Heritage Listing Advisor, completed the work for this listing. She describes Te Kohatu o Rīpeka as an area sacred to Māori in the traditional and spiritual sense. “While blood was not shed as in warfare, the blood from high-ranking women is tapu. The women could sit on the Kohatu (rock) and look at their moko kauae in the clear mirror-like water of the pool below. They bathed their faces there to cool and soothe inflammation.”

The practices at this place are thought to have taken place over centuries by tīpuna of Rongomaiwahine iwi. “Working with whānau and hapū to support their kōrero, to recognise and acknowledge their generational connections to places and people that are significant to the heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand, is a dream job,” says Annemarie. In her listing report Annemarie explains there have been whānau and hapū members who have utilised the pool around Te Kohatu o Rīpeka for healings and blessings. Different church denominations use the pool for a range of ceremonial and spiritual purposes. The pool is also used as a swimming hole for local hapū. Nearby schools and those from as far away as Tairawhiti and Wairoa bring the children here to swim.

Given the contemporary resurgence of moko kauae, it is planned that current and future generations will utilise this place to have moko kauae and tāmoko – a place for women and for men. Pua says that the river is their life force. “It has given us food, water to drink and to bathe. It protects our fish; it is our spiritual awa and our shrine. It is our safe place where we have had fun growing up.” An official commemoration of this site is being planned. n