7 minute read
A fresh flavour
Famed for its sunshine and beaches, Tauranga is now finding new ways to share its rich heritage with visitors
WORDS: JACQUI GIBSON
Located on a sunny sweep of coast and marked by white sand beaches, a twinkling harbour and lush rainforest, Tauranga is so much more than its stunning good looks would have you believe.
That’s what recently retired history teacher and Western Bay of Plenty Heritage Trust Chair Bruce Farthing tells me on a brief visit to Ōtūmoetai Pā Historic Reserve, just a few minutes’ walk from his clifftop home.
I’ve flown to Tauranga from Wellington, swapping a merino jacket and stockinged feet for a t-shirt, sunnies and sandals.
Over three days, I plan to winkle out the city’s rich history by talking to those in the know, and Bruce, a history teacher for 45 years, reckons piecing together Tauranga’s layered past shouldn’t be too hard.
As we enter the roadside park on Levers Road, he tells me: “It’s crazy. This wonderful reserve was opened a decade ago, but so few people visit or really understand its significance.”
As Bruce talks, we pass seven carved posts representing historic figures of Ngāi Tamarāwaho, a hapū of Ngāti Ranginui and one of three mana whenua tribes who occupied the land prior to government confiscation in 1864.
Carved by Damien Kohu and Whare Thompson for the reserve’s official opening, the gateway pou whenua reflect the site’s past as a fighting pā and the point in New Zealand’s history when this harbour-facing hilltop operated as the district’s capital.
As Bruce walks ahead, I stop to read a plaque explaining how the historic site eventually passed into the hands of settler farmer Robert Matheson in 1870. It remained in Matheson family hands until it was remodelled and launched as a community reserve in 2012.
“This region’s rich heritage goes back as far as the first waka arriving from East Polynesia in the 13th century,” says Bruce, pausing beside the original gateposts of the Matheson family’s Fairview Farm incorporated into the reserve’s design.
“It was deeply impacted by inter-tribal warfare during the Musket Wars. You have the arrival of the Church Missionary Society in the 1830s. A decade later, chiefs here refused to sign the treaty [Treaty of Waitangi]. And, of course, Tauranga was the site of a significant defeat for the British military, acting for the government of the day, at the hands of local Māori in the 1860s.”
Gesturing east towards his Ōtūmoetai Road home, Bruce says: “This land is alive with the past. Dig in my garden and it’s possible you’ll unearth a skeleton or two.
1 Buddy Mikaere at Ōtamataha Pā.
2 Bruce Farthing at
Ōtūmoetai Pā
Historic Reserve.
3 Pou at Ōtūmoetai Pā Historic Reserve.
4 5 Pou at Gate Pā.
IMAGERY: JACQUI GIBSON
2 3
4 5
1 Walking the track on
Mount Maunganui/Mauao.
2 Clarence Hotel.
IMAGERY: TOURISM BAY
OF PLENTY
3 The Elms/Te Papa
Tauranga.
4 Raupō whare, The Elms/
Te Papa Tauranga.
IMAGERY: JACQUI GIBSON I’m not kidding. In Tauranga, it feels like you’re living on top of history itself.”
In 1998 Bruce helped spearhead a campaign to build a museum for the Bay of Plenty region, located in downtown Tauranga.
His vision, as chair of the original museum board, was to create a central hub from which the region’s bicultural heritage could be easily celebrated and shared with the community, schools and tourists alike.
In the decades that followed, however, the idea of building a museum repeatedly failed to garner enough community support to secure council funding.
Seeing the writing on the wall, Bruce went back to the drawing board and in 2017 formed a region-wide trust known as Taonga Tū, Heritage Bay of Plenty. The goal? To keep the heritage hub concept alive while coming up with new ways to share the region’s 800-year-old heritage in an accessible, co-ordinated way.
I meet historian and former Waitangi Tribunal Director Buddy Mikaere, of Ngāi Tamarāwaho, on the grounds of Tauranga’s Gate Pā Memorial Reserve to explore the park and discuss his role in Taonga Tū.
Says Buddy, standing beside the reserve’s flagstaff on the hill: “The Bay of Plenty has an extremely important story to tell – regardless of how we decide to express it. And Tauranga is unique in that it has an actual battlefield in the middle of the city.
“We have a parcel of land available for development nearby. Why wouldn’t we take advantage of that? Sure, we could focus on upgrading and linking key sites like Gate Pā and Te Ranga – that makes sense. But why not think even bigger? Why not have a national centre for the New Zealand Land Wars right here?”
Joining us on our tour is Tourism Bay of Plenty Destination Marketing Manager Loretta Crawford.
She says domestic travel data shows that 42 percent of New Zealanders spend their holiday cash on culture and heritage experiences, but in places such as Tauranga they typically don’t know how or where to find them.
That’s why her team has designed a range of online itineraries focused on key culture and heritage sites throughout Tauranga and the broader Te Moana a Toi, Coastal Bay of Plenty region.
In Tauranga, says Loretta, visitors are encouraged to tour sites such as Gate Pā and The Elms/Te Papa Tauranga and stay at the city’s heritage-listed Clarence Hotel. Completely refurbished in 2018, the hotel is an Edwardian Baroque-style building on Willow Street that dates back to 1906. Once Tauranga’s post office, today it is a 10-room boutique hotel, featuring a popular finedining restaurant, bistro and bar.
At The Mount (Mount Maunganui/Mauao), she says, Mauao Adventures takes visitors on guided walks, sharing stories of the sacred maunga.
Cyclists, meanwhile, can explore historic Ongarahu Pā with Te Ara Tourism, guided by Paula Beilby, a descendant of the hapū who once occupied the site.
Ben Pick, Lower Northern Area Manager for Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, believes demand for heritage tourism is at an all-time high among Kiwis.
“As a result of Covid-19, and since lockdown, New Zealanders have been holidaying in heritage places in greater numbers than ever. You only have to look at the Tohu Whenua sites buoyed by Tourism New Zealand’s recent campaigns,” he says.
“The Coastal Bay of Plenty is an incredibly interesting part of the country. A lot of our archaeological resources and landscapes are so prominent – Mauao and the Pāpāmoa Hills Regional Park, for example. They’re amazing places to visit. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to come here for the beautiful beaches and sunny days and also to learn the incredible history of this region?”
On my last day in Tauranga, I join historian Debbie McCauley and Tauranga Historical Society Chair Julie Green at the Brain Watkins House Museum, a heritagelisted settler property on Cameron Road built in 1881.
As we sit around the dining room table, Debbie tells me that one of the challenges for Taonga Tū is to help the local community realise that celebrating the region’s rich heritage isn’t about getting stuck in the past.
“We need to understand our history in order to develop as a modern city with our own unique flavour, otherwise there’s a danger we’ll succumb to bland uniformity.
“I’m optimistic when I look at the younger generation coming through.
“They’re open. They’re curious. They want to know who they are and where they’re from.
“Let’s give them access to the stories, people and places to do that. And then let’s join them on that journey of discovery as local residents and tourists in our own backyard. I mean, why not? Really, what have we got to lose?”
hapū: sub-tribe mana whenua: those with tribal authority over land or territory by virtue of possession and/or occupation maunga: mountain pou whenua: post markers of ownership
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