Paepaehakumanu Motutara

Hinemaru Street, Hinemoa Street, and Queens Drive, ROTORUA

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Paepaehakumanu Motutara is sacred in the spiritual and traditional sense to the descendants of the Te Arawa waka and in particular, Ngati Whakaue. The land includes sacred ngawha (hot pools) battle grounds and burial sites that are imbued with the wairua (spirit) of associated ancestors and chiefs of Ngati Whakaue. Pa, kainga, food cultivation areas and gathering areas for natural resources such as rongoa Maori (traditional Maori medicine) and harakeke (flax) are also sacred in the traditional sense. The thermal areas of Paepaehakumanu Motutara are imbued with wairua, absorbed from centuries of spiritual use dating back to the arrival of the Te Arawa people to the Rotorua region and the ancient teachings about the tohunga Ngatoroirangi, and how the geothermal features were created. The pools of Te Kauanga possessed healing qualities and were used to cure ailments, while the Hinemaru pool was reserved only for the tohunga (priest) Ngahihi, who sought healing from the pool when he was ill. Oruawhata, a chasm of boiling water is where the bodies of Te Arawa chiefs were placed to protect them from desecration, as conflict and war between enemy tribes was imminent in those times. Paepaehakumanu Motutara was the backdrop of two battles between Te Arawa tribes, and consequently, the toto (blood) that was spilt on the grounds stained the land which according to tikanga, imparted tapu (sacredness) to the whenua (land). In the battle of Tawharakurupeti, Ngati Whakaue chiefs and brothers, Te Roro o Te Rangi and Te Kata were killed. In another battle known as Te Whakarua, between the people of Ngati Uenukukopako and Ngati Whakaue, the people of Ngati Uenukukopako were forced to retreat back to Mokoia Island after their chief Te Arakau was captured by Ngati Whakaue and killed. The bloodshed that took place is remembered in a place named ‘Te Toto’ literally meaning ‘The place of bloodshed.’ Urupa were numerous in the area, although it was well known that human remains were vulnerable to enemy tribes if they weren’t buried somewhere obscure or moved when danger was imminent. Te Papa-o-Te Arawa is where ancestors’ remains were interred, however they were soon removed by the Te Arawa people during the Ngapuhi invasion in 1823, taken to Waiharuru and placed in another thermal pool to avoid desecration. The Te Arawa people also removed their ancestors’ remains from Te Papa o Te Arawa (The Rock of the Arawas) but this was when the land was taken over by the Government. In the same way, pa settlements weren’t always permanent due to the temperamental land which could be swampy and dry at once. In spite of this, earthworks were visible during the 1800s. Although the land is not used by Maori to the full extent of what it once was by Te Arawa ancestors, it is still a gathering area for traditional resources that cater for rongoa Maori, weaving and other purposes. Any physical trace of this past belonging to Te Arawa is now difficult to see beneath bowling greens and well maintained gardens; but the wairua that iwi and hapu associate with this place still exists and reverberates through things such as whakairo that still stand in different forms around the gardens and through the natural, geothermal features themselves. The geothermal waters and sulphuric mud that warmed the region for the first settlers, still flows and bubbles beneath the land, and in that way - the mauri (life force) of Paepaehakumanu Motutara is never-ending.

Location

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List Entry Information

Overview

Detailed List Entry

Status

Listed

List Entry Status

Wahi Tapu Area

Access

Able to Visit

List Number

9594

Date Entered

10th October 2011

Date of Effect

10th October 2011

City/District Council

Rotorua District

Region

Bay of Plenty Region

Extent of List Entry

Extent of registration includes the land known as Paepaehakumanu Motutara and related wahi tapu features Motutara, Omarumatua, Oruawhata, Otukopiri, Paepaehakumanu, Tamakomako, Taungatara, Te Ana-a-Waitapu, Te Ikiiki, Te Kauanga, Te Kopana-a-Pareao Te Maunga o Te Kiritere, Te Papa a Tamarangi, Te Papa o Te Arawa, Te Parakiri o Hinemaru, Te Pupu o Hinepa, Te Rua a Waitapu, Te Toto Te Whangapipiro, and Wahi Hoanga that are interconnected. Off-shore islets named Harua, Motutara, Moturere and Timanga have been included in this wahi tapu area registration, these have no legal description, but are within a gazetted refuge, Lake Rotorua (Motutara) Wildlife Refuge Order 1967 p. 458. Extent includes part of the land described as Pt Sec 2 Blk I Tarawera SD (RT SA39B/971), Recreation Reserve (NZGZ 1984 p. 2272), Lot 5 DPS 45835 (RT SA39B/972), Recreation Reserve (NZGZ 1984 p. 2272), Lot 2 and Pt Lot 3 and Sec 90 Blk I Tarawera SD (RT SA34C/324), Recreation Reserve (NZGZ 1984 p. 2272), Lots 1-3 Blk 1 Sec 2 Tarawera SD (no RT) Recreation Reserve (NZGZ 1986, p. 2485), Lot 5 Blk I Sec 2 Tarawera SD (no RT), Sec 76 Blk I Tarawera SD (no RT), Recreation Reserve (NZGZ 1980 p. 94), Lot 1 DPS 15998 (RT SA14D/112), Recreation Reserve (NZGZ 1984 p. 2272), Lot 1 DPS 38951 (RT SA34C/325), Recreation Reserve (NZGZ 1984, p. 2272),Recreation Reserve (NZGZ 1999 p. 1898), and Legal Road South Auckland Land District.

Legal description

Pt Sec 2 Blk I Tarawera SD (RT SA39B/971) Recreation Reserve (NZ Gazette 1984 p. 2272); and Lot 5 DPS 45835 (RT SA39B/972) Recreation Reserve (NZ Gazette 1984 p. 2272); and Lot 2 and Pt Lot 3 and Sec 90 Blk I Tarawera SD DPS 15998 (RT SA34C/324) Recreation Reserve (NZ Gazette 1984 p. 2272); and Lots 1, 2, 3 Blk 1 Sec 2 Tarawera SD (no RT) Recreation Reserve (NZ Gazette 1986, p. 2485); and Lot 5 Blk I Sec 2 Tarawera SD (no RT); and Sec 76 Blk I Tarawera SD (no RT) Recreation Reserve (NZ Gazette 1980 p. 94); and Lot 1 DPS 15998 (RT SA14D/112) Recreation Reserve (NZ Gazette 1984 p. 2272); and Lot 1 DPS 38951 (RT SA34C/325) Recreation Reserve (NZ Gazette 1984, p. 2272); Recreation Reserve (NZ Gazette 1999 p. 1898); and Legal Road All South Auckland Land District

Location Description

Bounded by Hinemaru Street and Hinemoa Street and Priest Road and including Queens Drive and Oruawhatua (Memorial) Drive in Rotorua, Bay of Plenty, the site is situated on a large expanse of low-lying flat land on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua to the east of Rotorua’s town centre.

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