Te Pito o te Ao
Te Toka a Taiau, Te Pito o te Ao
Te Toka a Taiau is the core of our universe
A Tairāwhiti perspective
Ko Te Toka a Taiau,
Te herenga o ngā wai, mai te hononga o ngā rua
Te Toka a Taiau is a spiritual gathering place of our ancestors
Ko Te Toka a Taiau
Te whakatinanatanga o te whakapapa
We are the kaitiaki, guardians of this very sacred site
And Te Toka a Taiau is the physical reminder of our commitment to the land, the people and our environment
Ko Te Toka a Taiau he mauri tipua
Ko te Toka a Taiau he mauri tawhito
He mauri no te kukunetanga mai i Hawaiki
Mauritu nei hei ahurewa tapu
Mauritu nei hei tuahu tapu.
– Tā Derek Lardelli, Ngāti Porou, Rongowhakaata
This is where we gather. In every coastal town in Aotearoa New Zealand, there is a whānau beach. In Tūranganui-a-Kiwa, this is it. The Cut, Waikanae Beach- this is it. This is where you bring your babies.
Growing up in Gisborne, spending the day at the beach is a natural part of life. This was always ‘the kids’ beach’, the spot in the bay where it was deemed safe to take your tamariki. Like my grandparents, parents, aunties and uncles before me, I would bring my children here too. Recent history, teardrops in the oceans of time.
Let’s jump around in linear time for a bit. It will warm you up for the dance floor.
The geological history of the area dates back some 3,400 years. Horouta waka is said to have arrived in the 1300s. Captain Cook, 1769. Then, Waerenga-a-Hika, 1865 and the Tūranga Wars that followed -when all this whenua you are standing on, in 2026, was confiscated. Then our sacred rock Te Toka a Taiau was blasted in the 1870s to make way for the new wharf as we now know it.
This body of work acknowledges all of these events in a modern context and invites you to connect, to move, to kanikani, to dance and feel the mauri and wairua of this land through your feet. Our land. My land. Your land. We are all here now. So are emus and rooks. And caaaats. The only way, in this modern construct of time, is forward.
For more information, please read “The Turanganui River, A Brief History” by Michael Spedding. Published in October 2026 by the Department of Conservation, in association.
Nightclub and mirror ball designed by Melanie Tangaere-Baldwin