HŌTOKE • WINTER 2021
“We are grateful to iwi hapū who have shared their precious kōrero and other information with us as part of the research that went into the listings.”
NORTHLAND
Perhaps best known as the site of the third and largest signing of Te Tiriti on February 12 1840, Māngungu is part of a wider Hokianga ancestral landscape extending back to the explorations of Kupe and Nukutawhiti. In the late 1820s, the hau kāinga of this part of the Hokianga – Ngāti Toro, Te Popoto and Te Ngahengae of Ngāpuhi iwi – provided a place for Wesleyan missionaries to establish a base. The mission station established there came under the protection of Eruera Maihi Patuone, Tāmati Waka Nene, Makoare Te Taonui, Muriwai and others.
Māngungu Mission, today cared for by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, at Hōreke in the Hokianga. CREDIT: HERITAGE NEW ZEALAND POUHERE TAONGA
Ancestral and sacred sites recognised Two Northland places that have strong heritage and cultural significance to Māori have now been formally listed by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.
Māngungu at Hōreke in the Hokianga has been added to the New Zealand Heritage List/Rārangi Kōrero as Wāhi Tūpuna – a place important to Māori for ancestral significance and associated cultural and traditional values. A second place – Piakoa at Tākou Bay – has been recognised as a Wāhi Tapu area containing sites sacred to Māori in the traditional, spiritual, religious, ritual or mythological sense. “These listings under the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act give formal recognition to the cultural and heritage values of these places,” says Atareira Heihei, Senior Pouārahi Northland for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.
“Under the protection and support of these tūpuna, Māngungu became a significant place of cultural exchange on the Hokianga Harbour,” says Atareiria. “The mission station balanced the commercial centre at nearby Hōreke, while paving the way for Hokianga hapū to engage with missionaries and their Christian message. Within a few years, Sunday services were frequently attended by hundreds of Māori converts, many of whom became teachers and preachers both at Māngungu and in communities around the country.” On the east coast, Piakoa – a network of traditional burial caves in the cliffs high above the coastline of Tākou Bay – has been listed as a Wāhi Tapu area. “A number of very significant rangatira were laid to rest here including Auwha who, with CONTINUED OVER >
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