Tohu Whenua
Discover Te Tai Tokerau Northland’s best heritage experiences.
Historic lighthouses, pā sites, battlefields, treaty grounds and mission stations – Te Tai Tokerau Northland is rich with Tohu Whenua, our country’s most treasured heritage places. If you’re heading north this winter, make sure you visit the Tohu Whenua website first. That’s because Tohu Whenua makes it easy to find our country’s best heritage experiences. Northland’s network of nine Tohu Whenua (which means ‘landmarks’ in Te Reo Māori) tell the stories of our nation’s beginnings – places where both our Māori and European ancestors arrived, centuries apart, and where their identities were defined. Located in stunning landscapes, jam-packed with stories and plenty of hands-on activities, Northland’s Tohu Whenua have something for everyone.
RUAPEKAPEKA PĀ, TOWAI
Ruapekapeka Pā near Kawakawa is Aotearoa’s best preserved battlefield, and one of those places that leaves an impression long after your visit. Reacting to the British breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, it was here that Māori chiefs and their vastly outnumbered warriors made a final stand against the British in the last battle of the Northern War. Everything about this location is epic: its strategic hill-top views, the well-preserved ditch and bank defences that pockmark the ground, a solitary cannon once used by Chief Kawiti, the forest tracks that hid sneaky soldiers, and the story of what happened here.
POMPALLIER MISSION & PRINTERY, RUSSELL
Pompallier Mission and Printery is Aotearoa’s only surviving pioneer printery and tannery. The mission is a mere 5-minute walk along the waterfront from Kororāreka (Russell) wharf. Commissioned by New Zealand’s first Catholic Bishop, Pompallier, it was here that a small group of dedicated French Marist Brothers translated Latin religious texts into Te Reo Māori and produced beautiful bound books to give away – almost 40,000 publications in three years! Today you can join one of several fantastic guides as they walk you through each step of the printing and book-binding process, browse the gift shop and enjoy a French patisserie at the on-site coffee house.
RANGIHOUA HERITAGE PARK, OIHI
Located 40 minutes north of Kerikeri, Rangihoua Heritage Park is the place where Māori and Europeans first learned to live side by side. This Christian mission – our first planned European settlement – was protected by Ngāpuhi Chief Ruatara, who could see the benefits of trade for his people. Learn about key characters of both cultures as you look over Rangihoua Pā and the Bay of Islands. Allow 20 minutes to walk down to the beach where the Marsden Cross memorial marks the place of our country’s first Christmas Day service held in 1814 – the perfect spot for a picnic.
KORORIPO HERITAGE PARK, KERIKERI
Incredibly picturesque and brimming with history that spans over 500 years, Kororipo Heritage Park is the site where some of the most important early meetings between Māori and Europeans took place. Pick up a treasure at our oldest general store, the Stone Store, built by the Church Missionary Society in 1832. Take a guided tour of Aotearoa’s oldest building, Kemp House. Follow a short track that leads you to Kororipo Pā, a fortified hill settlement that was once home to the mission’s Māori protector Hongi Hika. Then take the footbridge across the river where you can experience pre-European life at Te Ahurea, a replica Māori village that includes a fascinating rongoā (medicinal) garden.
WAITANGI TREATY GROUNDS, WAITANGI
There are countless reasons to visit the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, the birthplace of our nation. It’s an extraordinary feeling to stand at the very spot where Te Tiriti o Waitangi was first signed by Māori chiefs and the British Crown on 6 February 1840. Included in your admission are a one-hour guided tour which culminates in a kapa haka performance in the intricately carved Te Whare Rūnanga, two contemporary museums, live demonstrations in the carving studio, and the world’s largest war canoe – all of which are located on extensive grounds overlooking the Bay of Islands.
TE WAIMATE MISSION, TE WAIMATE
20 minutes inland from Kerikeri you can visit Aotearoa’s first European farm. Established in 1830 by the Church Missionary Society, the model farming village was intended to teach British farming practices and promote the ideals of Western civilisation to Māori while they worked to produce goods for sale at Kerikeri’s Stone Store – a venture that eventually failed. These days you can explore the remaining mission house which has been turned into a fantastic little museum, wander through heritage gardens and feed the friendly Pitt Island sheep.
MĀNGUNGU MISSION, HOREKE
Just a year after its construction, this humble Wesleyan mission house became the site of our largest signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi on 12 February 1840. It must have been a phenomenal experience for Governor William Hobson to stand on the veranda and see a huge flotilla of waka carrying over 70 local chiefs coming up Hokianga Harbour. They were accompanied by a crowd of no less than 3000 people to witness the lengthy discussions. A copy of the original Treaty document with its many signatures can still be seen when you do a tour of the house. Located on a hill with stunning views, Māngungu Mission marks the start of the modern-day Pou Herenga Tai Twin Coast Cycle Trail.
CLENDON HOUSE, RĀWENE
A colonial home built in the 1860s, Clendon House tells the story of Captain James Reddy Clendon, a businessman and political figure who among many other things was chairman of New Zealand’s first bank, a member of the first Legislative Council, and eventually our first United States Consul. Even more compelling is the story of his wife Jane Takotowi Clendon. A Māori widow living in a Pākēha world, Jane raised eight children, rose out of her husband’s debt and preserved their home for future generations – an exemplar of the remarkable women of the times. It’s the quality of the storytelling and the fact that the house still has the family’s original possessions that make a visit worth the very modest entry fee.
RĀKAUMANGAMANGA – CAPE BRETT
For a more adventurous journey into the past, you can’t go past Rākaumangamanga – Cape Brett. The location is epic, dominated by dramatic cliffs containing crystalline rock. It was the light that reflected off these rocks that led the first seven waka travelling from Hawaiiki safely to land. Centuries later, in 1906, Cape Brett became the site of a lighthouse that continued to signal safe passage to seafarers over the next 70 years. Access is via a day-long hike from Rawhiti or a 35-minute boat or water taxi ride from Paihia. For an extra special experience, book a night in the lighthouse keeper’s cottage through the Department of Conservation.
