December 01, 2015
Waahi tupuna designation icing on Waitangi cake
Waitangi National Trust chair and New Zealand First MP Pita Paraone says designation of the Waitangi Treaty Grounds as the first wahi tupuna should give people a greater appreciation of the site.
A plaque noting the new Heritage New Zealand categorisation was unveiled at the Bay of Islands landmark on Fruday.
Mr Paraone says the tupuna in question is Maikuku, a significant ancestress of Ngati Rahiri and Ngapuhi, but there are other layers of history captured by the tohu.
"Waitangi itself also has the significance of being the site where two peoples entered into a sacred compact known as the Treaty of Waitangi and those two parties were Maori and Queen Victoria and her descendants, so having that as well is just an icing on the cake," he says.
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