Heritage and Historic Information

Tairawhiti Heritage Trail

Welcome to the Tairawhiti Heritage Trail. It leads you through lands now within the Gisborne District. The Trail winds through the ancestral lands of the Maori who arrived here over a thousand years ago.

Gisborne - An Historic Walk

You're in the middle of Gisborne city looking for something to do, something that gives the feel of the place, lets you in to some of the district's past, present and future. Why not enjoy a leisurely historic walk through the city taking in rivers, harbour and sea?

Titirangi, Poho o Rawiri, Cook Landing Site

Titirangi was named by the first Maori settlers in remembrance of their mountain in Hawaiki. It was the site of an extensive pa, bearing the same name, whose origins can be traced back for at least twenty-four Maori generations. The hill was also a place of whare wananga - houses of special learning.

Tolaga Bay - Uawa

Tolaga Bay was known to its original inhabitants as Uawa. The first people to settle in the district were Maori tribal groups who were descended from ancestors such as Maui Tiki-Tiki-a-Taranga (who fished the North Island from the sea) and Paikea, who voyaged from the ancestral home of Hawaiki to the East Coast of Aotearoa.

Tokomaru Bay

Tokomaru Bay is 92km north of Gisborne on State Highway 35. The district was originally known as Toka-a-namu but over the years this has been altered to Tokomaru Bay. The area is renowned for its scenery, beaches and fishing and is the craft centre for the East Coast where the Waiapu Community Arts Council is located.

Te Araroa

Te Araroa township, 175km from Gisborne, is situated on the foreshore of Kawakawa Bay. A giant pohutukawa tree, reputed to be the oldest and largest of its kind in New Zealand, stands in the school grounds.

Hicks Bay - Wharekahika

Hicks Bay, 186km from Gisborne and 15Okm from Opotiki, is also known as Wharekahika and has been occupied for perhaps 1000 years.

The Waiapu Mountains (Raukumara Ranges)

Situated near the north eastern end of the Raukumara Range is a group of imposing mountain peaks, Hikurangi, Whanokao, Aorangi, Wharekia and Taitai, which may be viewed to the west of SH 35 between Te Puia and Tikitiki.

Tuai - Waikaremoana

Tuai settlement, on the shore of the hydro lake Whakamarino, is 53km from Wairoa and 11km from the Urewera National Park Headquarters on State Highway 38.

Lake Waikaremoana / Te Urewera National Park

Lake Waikaremoana, a scenic gem on the south eastern boundary of the majestic Te Urewera National Park, is 67km from Wairoa and 16Okm from Rotorua on State Highway 38.