Historic event on Parihaka tomorrow - hundreds expected tomorrow

On Saturday morning an event of major significance to the hapü and wider population of Whangarei will take place at Parihaka, as the restoration of the correct name of the mountain is publicly affirmed.

Organisers expect hundreds of people to gather to celebrate the opening of a new look-out at the summit of the mountain and the unveiling of a sculpted rock, kohatu, symbolising the return of the name Parihaka, to the mountain, and the mauri, the life force, that emanates from the Maunga.

WDC staff and representatives of the many hapü (sub-tribes) of Whangärei have worked together on the project that recognises and celebrate that Parihaka was one of history’s largest Maori settlements.

It has also provided an opportunity to acknowledge that a historical mistake that for generations saw the mountain referred to as Parahaki, was put right by the New Zealand Geographic Board in 2005, following decades of campaigning by local hapü.

This included a 1937 delegation of Ngäti Kahu, Te Parawhau and Ngäti Kororä tribal leaders who requested that the name be corrected. The request was declined in 1937 but in 2003 Council began to consult on a management plan for the huge reserve surrounding the mountain.

During that consultation chiefs and elders of hapü from throughout the District agreed that part of the good management of the reserve should be to call the mountain it by its correct name, Parihaka. This name condenses the words pari and haka, referring to the embankments and pari (parapets) of the Pä and a great haka (war dance) that took place on them during a battle in the 1820s.

The chiefs discussed how, over time, the name was incorrectly referred to as Parahaki in accounts of the battles and in Mäori Land Court records.
The next year Council asked the New Zealand Geographic Board to reinstate the correct name. On 4 September 2005 the Minister for Land Information restored the name to ‘Mount Parihaka’.

Under the new management plan for the reserve, attention moved to facilities that needed to be developed or refurbished on the maunga. Key among these was the old lookout at the summit of the mountain, close to a war memorial.

The decision was to rebuild the lookout, improving the facility for all people visiting it, and acknowledging Parihaka’s history, the restoring of its name, and its importance to the hapu of Whangarei.

This has been achieved through a design that mimics the parapets of the pa that once stood there, with stainless steel panels that describe its history, and a panorama that identifies the locations it overlooks.

In addition to this, one of New Zealand’s most prominent Maori Carvers, Tohunga Whakairo Te Warihi Hetaraka, was commissioned to carve the kohatu, a stone, specially selected from Lake Waro, just north of Whangarei.

On Saturday at 10am representatives of the 13 main clusters of hapü in Whangarei will each untie a ribbon from the cloak covering this kohatu in a symbolic gesture of unveiling, and Mayor Sheryl Mai will untie the 14th ribbon on behalf of all of the people of the District.

Due to limited space the carparks at the summit will be closed and buses will leave Whangarei’s Toll Stadium on Okara Drive from 9am onwards, to deliver to the mountain everyone who would like to witness this historic event.

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