Tohu Whenua News March 2021

Tohu Whenua's new look website

The Tohu Whenua website is one of Tohu Whenua’s best assets. As the popularity of the Tohu Whenua brand grows, so too do the number of visitors to the website. These fall into two main categories: 1) visitors to Tohu Whenua places who want to plan their travels around Aotearoa and get details of what to expect from Tohu Whenua sites, and 2) our partners and media who need to access information and resources to better market the programme and individual Tohu Whenua places.

The website is now more user friendly, more informative and consistent with other new collateral such as our updated brochures.

The website’s primary focus is still on showcasing and promoting all our Tohu Whenua to potential visitors. We’ve refreshed our photos to focus on the visitor experience and beauty of the sites, and updated the text including a bit more Te Reo Māori. The new maps and downloadable regional brochures will make it easier for visitors to plan a visit. We’ve also included more design elements that reinforce the look of the Tohu Whenua brand.

The other aim of our new-look website is to provide our partners and the media with a comprehensive toolkit so they can promote the Tohu Whenua story and individual sites. These include new key messages, an icon that can be used to mark Tohu Whenua sites on travel maps, our logo and brand guidelines, and a powerpoint presentation about Tohu Whenua. We are currently also working on an image library - stay tuned!

We’re really happy with how the new-look Tohu Whenua website has turned out. But don’t take our word for it, check it out yourself at https://tohuwhenua.nz

Tohu Whenua news round-up

• Waiuta was launched as a Tohu Whenua in December, making it the fifth in Te Tai Poutini West Coast. Waiuta was chosen in part because it was once the third biggest goldmine in New Zealand and the largest producer of gold on the West Coast, making it an industrial gold mining site of national significance. But it’s more than just a mining story - the site also tells the story of how people lived in remote communities in relatively recent times. The sense of community is still strong here with the dedicated Friends of Waiuta keeping the stories alive alongside the Department of Conservation.
• 175th commemorations for the Battle of Ruapekapeka were held in Northland at the start of the year. He Rua Whakautu mo te Riri was unveiled by the Governor-General and Prime Minister in a special ceremony. This memorial stone acknowledges all those who fought in the battle, especially those who gave their lives for their respective causes.
• Te Ahurea in Northland has been officially opened by Ngāti Rēhia, following a significant upgrade, and is now open to the public. Formerly known as Rewa’s Village, Te Ahurea is a small-scale replica of a pre-European Māori fishing village and a part of Kororipo Heritage Park in Kerikeri.
• Friday 12 February marked the 181st anniversary of the third and largest signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi at Māngungu Mission in Northland. After the Treaty had been debated, 75 local rangatira signed the document in front of a crowd of 3000. The anniversary was celebrated by Hokianga Whakapau Karakia and Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga at an annual public event which included a waka salute.
• This month marks the 125th anniversary of New Zealand’s worst workplace disaster, West Coast’s Brunner Mine explosion. The disaster ultimately gave rise to a stronger union movement and improved safety legislation. The 65 steps up to the miner’s memorial commemorate the men and boys who were killed in the explosion. Look out for our blog about the disaster and what a visit to Brunner can teach us today.

Tohu Whenua photo project

So we’ve started working with local photographers and locally-sourced talent to fill our most urgent imagery gaps. We made a conscious effort to depict mostly young couples (25 - 45 years) and families as visitors, to show a new generation just how fun and easy it is to visit Tohu Whenua heritage sites as part of their travels.

On Te Tai Poutini West Coast we worked with photographer Jason Blair who captured both drone and on-the-ground stills of a variety of visitors enjoying the highlights of Waiuta, Denniston, Brunner Mine and Hokitika’s Port, Commercial and Government Centre.

Our programme partners the Department of Conservation recently included our Tohu Whenua sites in a professional shoot they did in Dunedin. The new pics of Olveston, Larnach Castle and the Dunedin Railway Station are fantastic and it is great to see partnership in practice. We will soon be partnering with the Arrowtown Promotion and Business Association and Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga to get new stills of sites in Central Otago and Te Tai Tokerau Northland respectively. You will soon be able to access some of these images for use in your own promotion in the new image library of our new-look Tohu Whenua website.