GISBORNE Historic Places Tairawhiti members at the Puhi Kai Iti Cook Landing site with artist and historian, Nick Tupara, who used to work for HNZPT in Wellington.
East Coast Summer Tour The rich and varied history of the East Coast of Te Ika a Maui makes for a great summer roadie. Read about some of the highlights you can experience on the drive between Gisborne and East Cape. (Drive time is 3-4 hours but allow two days to really take in the sights). WORDS AND IMAGES: Sheridan Gundry
G
isborne’s nationally touted Tairāwhiti Museum provides the perfect starting point for a historic tour of the East Coast. The Tū te Whaihanga exhibition of taonga that left these shores in 1769 on board the HMS Endeavour and returned as part of Tuia 250 commemorations on display and worth a long pause. The 37 taonga include: painted hoe (paddles) traded at sea off Whareongaonga; Te Poupou o Hinematioro from Pourewa Island, Tolaga Bay; weapons, cloaks, belts, carvings and adornments. The Gisborne city port, river and beach walkway are also well worth exploring, along with Titirangi Kaiti Hill with its expansive views across the historic bay to Te Kuri, south to Mahia and the formidable interior. At the foot of the landmark hill, the Puhi Kai Iti Cook Landing Site National Historic Reserve commemorates both the arrival
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Heritage Quarterly
of the earliest inhabitants of Turanganuia-Kiwa (Gisborne) who migrated from Polynesia during the 14th century, and Cook and his fellow travellers many years later. The monument is listed as Category 1 with Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga. Close by is a sculptural tribute to Te Maro, the first of up to nine Māori killed in the encounter with Cook’s crew. Leaving Gisborne, head next to Opoutama, Cook’s Cove at Uawa Tolaga Bay. Opoutama was home to Te Aitanga a Hauiti aristocracy. To the right of the cove rises Pourewa Island, once the location of the fortified pā of Hinematioro, maternal grandmother of last head chief Te Kania-Takirau, who lived above Opoutama. Raiatean navigator, Tupaia, talked with Uawa chiefs and tohunga at a small overhang in the cliffs above the beach. Tolaga Bay’s 660m concrete wharf can be viewed from the hills above.
The 1929 wharf contributed to its own demise, with much of the incoming cargo comprising materials for building the road through to Gisborne. From 1977, vehicles were banned from the wharf due to deteriorating piles and structure. The wharf was restored from 2001 and gained Category 1 status in 2009. At the northern end of Tolaga Bay’s beach, a heart-pumping climb up the Ernest Reeves Walkway onto the Tataraheke Cliffs provides panoramic views of the bay and district. Cook’s second landing place at Anaura Bay prompted the first comprehensive written description of Māori horticulture and village life. The crew filled their casks with water from Hawai Stream, marked by an Historic Places Trust plaque, and were given fish, wild celery and sweet potato. Northward, in Tokomaru Bay, the buzz is all about Café 35’s paua pies. But at the RAUMATI • SUMMER 2021
