High hopes

A bid to receive UNESCO World Heritage status for an ancient village in Rarotonga’s Mangaroa Valley highlights

Heritage Sites

Just like her late father Raymond Pirangi, Teuira Pirangi is a tourism entrepreneur on a mission. Every Tuesday and Wednesday she hosts three-hour walking tours of her ancestral homeland – one of only a few historic villages still intact in the Cook Islands.

Three nights a week, on the same site, she leads a 40-person team that puts on a traditional umu and cultural dance for up to 120 guests. When she’s not doing that, you’ll find her mowing the property’s sprawling lawns or deep in conversation with a bride-to-be about where on the hilltop site the upcoming nuptials will take place.

Then, of course, there’s the ongoing matter of applying for UNESCO World Heritage status, an effort that she and the Cook Islands Ministry of Cultural Development initiated in 2013 and that –fingers crossed – will protect Highland Paradise Cook Islands Cultural Centre for future generations.

“I know my father would be proud of what has been achieved here since his passing in 1997. But sometimes the work we’ve yet to do can feel overwhelming,” Teuira explains before our walking tour begins.

Teuira became managing director of Highland Paradise Cook Islands Cultural Centre in 2000, wrapping up a decades-long career as a debt collector to look after her mother and help run her father’s tourism business and fulfil his vision for the centre.

Since then, the self-funded tourism venture has won six Air New Zealand Cook Islands Tourism Culture Awards and launched an annual competition for local school kids to showcase their mastery of traditional skills such as weaving, drumming, ukulele playing and storytelling.

“Dad’s dream was to have people understand the historical significance of this ancient site and to use it as a way to engage our people in the heritage and culture of the Cook Islands,” says Teuira.

Located in Mangaroa Valley, within the west coast district of Arorangi on the island of Rarotonga, the

What are the benefits of UNESCO World Heritage status?

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) –which celebrated its 50th anniversary in November 2022 – World Heritage status helps raise awareness of a site’s heritage value and boosts access to assistance, training, advice and funding. To date, more than 1000 buildings and wilderness and historic places have been included on the World Heritage List. Find out more at whc.unesco.org n elevated site was once the mountain village of the Tinomana tribe, overseen by Teuira’s ancestor and ariki, paramount chief Tinomana.

Archaeological studies carried out separately by Canterbury Museum and the University of Auckland in the 1960s, and the University of Auckland again in 2017, found evidence of ancient stone marae, as well as several places of worship, sacrifice and warfare. Meanwhile, radiocarbon dating of cooking structures in the valley shows that the area was probably first inhabited in the 1500s.

The findings corroborate oral records of occupation by Tinomana and his wives and children from the 1700s until the early 1800s, when European missionaries arrived in the Cook Islands and changed traditional life forever.

Today, the site’s artefacts and history are on full display to the public as one of a small but growing number of heritage tourism ventures in the Cook Islands.

Storytellers Eco Cycle and Walking Tours, owned and run by former Kiwi environmental sociology lecturer Dr Corrina Tucker, is another example. Her tours, launched in 2019, take in a range of historic sites, including Ara Metua, an ancient coral inland road estimated to be around 1000 years old.

New Zealand archaeologist Gareth Walter believes cultural tourism has an important role to play in the Cook Islands and throughout the Pacific. In 2017 Gareth spent three weeks carrying out field work at the ancient village in Maungaroa Valley as part of a master’s degree at the University of Auckland.

Today, although based in Australia as Heritage Management Lead for Rio Tinto, he continues to travel to the Cook Islands and work with Teuira to get the site included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Cultural tourism done well can help indigenous communities realise their aspirations, while ensuring globally important histories are told, he says.

“But in places like the Pacific, where there’s limited funding and heritage protection support available, it’s not uncommon for family-run businesses to become the primary means for achieving those goals.”

On the upside, that means the experiences can be authentic and reflective of an indigenous worldview. On the downside, it can be burdensome for time-poor, cash-strapped communities.

“Seeking UNESCO World Heritage status takes years and can cost millions of dollars in research, consultation and so on. There are a lot of moving parts,” says Gareth.

“And when you look at what is listed today, you’ll find very few Pacific world heritage sites and even fewer sites reflective of indigenous heritage.

“To me, that’s why Teuira’s efforts are so important. Not only is she helping to protect and promote an important chapter of Cook Islands cultural heritage, but there’s also the potential to pave the way for the protection and promotion of other Polynesian heritage sites.”

Gareth would like to see government agencies in Pacific nations such as New Zealand get behind Teuira’s bid. Among the agencies that Heritage New Zealand magazine was directed to while researching this story were the Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai (DOC) and Creative New Zealand.

DOC Senior International Advisor Sarah Bagnall agrees that obtaining UNESCO World Heritage status can be an important way to recognise the world’s most special places. And while DOC successfully achieved such status for the natural wilderness site of Te Wāhipounamu – South West New Zealand, she isn’t aware of Teuira’s bid or the range of government measures available to protect sites of cultural heritage in the Cook Islands.

Similarly, Creative New Zealand spokesperson Makerita Urale is neither aware of Teuira’s bid nor clear about the full range of government support available for cultural heritage protection in the Cook Islands.

However, she says, the agency does fund storytelling projects in the Pacific and occasionally works with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to fund cultural arts projects there.

Gareth believes the story of the Tinomana tribe in Maungaroa Valley is one important piece of a bigger storytelling jigsaw.

“We know some left the Cook Islands to voyage to Aotearoa in the early days of Polynesian settlement in New Zealand. We also know European missionaries played a major role in the village of Maungaroa disbanding and converting to Christianity, ultimately paving the way for colonisation in the Cook Islands.

“You shouldn’t see a site like the one at Maungaroa Valley in isolation. At more than 500 years old, it helps us understand a much bigger story that’s relevant to people and cultures throughout the Pacific and the wider world.”

Cultural tours in the Cook Islands

1. Tapuae Day Tour, Highland Paradise Cook Island Cultural Centre

Visit Highland Paradise Cook Island Cultural Centre for the Tapuae Day Tour to meet Teuira Pirangi and see the ancient village of the Tinomana tribe and learn about its history (good walking shoes and insect repellent are recommended for hiking to forested archaeological sites). Find out more at highlandparadise.co.ck

2. Sunset Show and Feast, Highland Paradise Cook Island Cultural Centre

Be hosted by the descendants of the Tinomana tribe at Highland Paradise Cook Islands Cultural Centre on Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights. Enjoy a village tour and traditional tapu-lifting ceremony. Experience an umu feast and watch traditional Cook Island dancing. Find out more at highlandparadise.co.ck

3. Cycle and Walking Tours, Storytellers Eco Cycle and Walking Tours

Sign up for a cycle or walking tour with Storytellers

Eco Cycle and Walking Tours run by Dr Corrina Tucker. Tours range in length from a couple of hours to half a day. All tours take in fascinating stops at Cook Island cultural heritage sites and can include (on request) an introduction to the heritage food, architecture, flora and history of the Cook Islands.

Corrina has written handy booklets on the country’s heritage sites for people keen to know more about the sites visited on the tours or to use for self-guided cultural heritage tours. Sites included are Tuoro (Black Rock), the departure point for the spirits of the dead in Rarotonga, and Titikaveka (Cook Islands Christian Church), an historic church constructed partly from blocks carved from the nearby coral reef in 1841, among many others. Find out more at storytellers.co.ck n