Our Autumn marketing will focus on the diverse activities that the Tohu Whenua network has to offer and lean into the concept of our visitors being “Tohu Whenua Explorers.”
We have made some customised social media content for you that we would love you to share. This will be emailed to you directly next week so keep an eye on your inbox and reach out if you have any questions.
A big thanks to everyone who took the time to share our summer marketing campaign. It was great to see sites sharing our survey data with their audiences and helping to spread the Tohu Whenua word + a special thanks to those who contributed video content to our "Feed Your" social media video.
We ran a targeted social media ad campaign with that video ^ to a variety of audiences across the country (some to people living in our three regions and some to a nationwide audience with interests in tourism/travelling). The total reach (number of newsfeeds that had this video in them) was 42.5k + 18k engagements (liking, sharing, commenting or reacting to the video).
This is another step towards building Tohu Whenua awareness online and growing our online following, so that we can connect more New Zealanders with your amazing sites.
In the print advertising sphere, we printed a piece with Our New Zealand Magazine that highlighted 10 great heritage and cafe destinations around the motu. Click here to read the story.
Based on the demographic results of our survey, we're also focusing on sharing Tohu Whenua with more Māori whānau and sent a press release out near Waitangi Day this year highlighting how visitors can use Tohu Whenua to learn more about Māori history. We were thrilled to have Dean Whiting (Tohu Whenua Steering Group member and Kaiwhakahaere, Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga) speak about this on Radio Waatea and create a special video at Waitangi Treaty Grounds that we shared across our social media platforms.
With the learnings of our Summer campaign under our belts, we're excited and inspired to be starting our Autumn campaign today and would love you to get involved this season.
A korero with Dean Whiting, Tohu Whenua Steering Group member and Kaiwhakahaere, Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.
National Lamb Day is a thrill for the team at Totara Estate; the home of Aotearoa New Zealand's first international shipment of sheep and frozen meat and one of our Tohu Whenua sites in Otago.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand and AgProud lead the promotion for National Lamb Day at the Southern Field Days in February. Celebrated on February 15th, National Lamb Day is the anniversary of the day the ship Dunedin left Port Chalmers for London in 1882 carrying the first shipment of sheep and frozen meat (4,311 sheep and 598 carcasses), that were farmed at Totara Estate, from Aotearoa New Zealand to England (a 98 day journey to the Smithfield Market).
A shoutout and congratulations to Arrowtown for winning NZ's Most Beautiful Small Town Award in 2023 + the Otago region being named one of the most welcoming regions in the world.
Read about the most welcoming regions
Kia ora tātou,
Ko Ngongotahā te maunga
Ko Rotorua te awa
Nō Rotorua-nui-a-kahu matamōmoe ahau
Ko Bennett tōku whānau
Ko Liam tōku ingoa
My name is Liam Bennett and I'm the new Programme Coordinator Kairuruku Kaupapa for Tohu Whenua. I was born in Rotorua, with my upbringing split between Rotorua and the UK.
After a couple of post-high school gap years gallivanting across Europe, I returned to visit Aotearoa where I was promptly convinced by friends and whānau to stay for good. I was drawn to Te Whanganui-a-TaraAWellington, where I studied a Bachelor of Tourism Management at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. I've previously held roles in communications and marketing for a sustainable tourism operator, and worked within tourism policy projects. Most recently, I worked within the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 project team at Hīkina Whakatutuki Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, as the lead Crown agency for the event.
My mahi within the Tohu Whenua whānau is primarily focused on the regions where Tohu Whenua is already established, Te Tai Tokerau Northland, Te Tai Poutini West Coast, and Otago. I'll also be seeking and growing tourism and education sector relationships and opportunities for the programme. I’m looking forward to visiting some Tohu Whenua in 2024 and connecting with the people that tell their stories!
Ko Taupiri te Maunga
Ko Waikato te Awa
Ko Tainui te Waka
Ko Tainui, ratou ko Norwegian, ko Shetland Islanders, ko Scottish ōku iwi
Ko Ngāti Mahuta tōku hapū
Ko Maketu tōku marae
I tipu ake au ki Murihiku (I grew up in Southland)
Kei Ōtepoti tōku kainga ināianei (I live in Dunedin now)
Ko Jill Mitchell-Larrivee ahau ( I am Jill Mitchell-Larivee)
Kia ora koutou,
While my whakapapa takes me back to Kawhia Harbour, I was born and raised on a Southland sheep farm and have spent most of my life in rural Southland, Wanaka, Alaska and Fiordland. The proud mum of three young men, Jackson, Patrick and Thomas, I enjoy spending time with family, animals, sports, and the outdoors. In the winter months most of my spare minutes are taken up coaching netball, while husband Jonathan works offshore.
We made the move to the big smoke of Ōtepoti Dunedin three years ago and I joined the Tohu Whenua team in 2022 as the Regional Coordinator Kaituitui a Rohe, Otago. This year that role expanded to cover all Tohu Whenua places across Te Wai Pounamu. With a background in tourism, tourism marketing, events and education, and a long standing mission to build understanding and awareness of the Māori culture, “Team Tohu Whenua” is a great fit! I spend 30 hours of my working week in this role, and the rest teaching & coaching. I’m very much looking forward to seeing what we can achieve with the great team Caroline has pulled together for 2024.
Kia ora koutou,
Ko Jenny tōku ingoa
Nō Murihiku ahau
Kei Tohu Whenua au e mahi ana
My name is Jenny, I come from Gore, Southland and now work in the Tohu Whenua team as the Marketing and Communications Manager. I spend my hours outside of Tohu Whenua making country/folk music. I’m now based in Wellington and have known about Tohu Whenua for a few years through your Te Waipounamu South Island Regional Coordinator Jill Mitchell-Larrivee, known to me as Aunty Jill!
I love traveling around the country and am excited to help more New Zealanders discover places they can visit and learn more about Aotearoa New Zealand’s heritage along the way.
We are introducing a weekly highlight of a Tohu Whenua site, which started last week with the TSS Earnslaw. Click here to check it out on Instagram.
Tohu Whenua Tuesdays aim to highlight what you see and do at Tohu Whenua sites + are a great way to highlight any deals, exciting news or info you'd like us to share.
The Department of Conservation has restored and officially opened a 100-year-old gold miner's cottage in Waiuta, a Tohu Whenua site in Te Tai Poutini West Coast.
Family members from the Czech Republic were among those who gathered at the old gold mining township of Waiuta today to celebrate the restoration of Jos Divis’ old home. Czech émigré Divis (1885-1967) was a keen amateur photographer who documented gold mining life during the heyday of the town, about 35km from Reefton.
This often included posing in his own photos using a self-timer which has led to him being described as pioneering the ‘selfie’. Many of Divis' images can be seen now at the National Library in Wellington as part of the exhibition 'Cast in light: Life in a mining town.'
The quest to find a nice piece of hardwood big enough to mill into a square Tohu Whenua marker post, hard enough to withstand the Southern climate, and character enough to blend into Olveston’s grand old garden setting proved to be quite the challenge for our Otago regional co-ordinator Jill Mitchell-Larrivee.
After several months of conversations, phone calls, emails and visits that led her to a number of “nearly but not quite” options, Arrowtown contractor Roy Bagley directed Jill to a small mill in the heart of Central Otago. “Finding Carl Livingston and Ironwood Recycled Timbers was like striking gold” Jill explains.
Through many eyes, the old weathered timbers of varying shapes and sizes stacked up around Carl’s property would be viewed as rubbish. “Great for firewood” some would say. Carl though, has a very different vision. A long time local, he spends much of his time sourcing, rescuing, sorting and carefully re-shaping these pieces of timber ready for new homes and a new purpose.
“You wont need to worry about these rotting in the Dunedin weather. They’ll out-live all of us”, he laughs.
David Clendon, our new Te Tai Tokerau Northland Regional Co-ordinator, pictured here at the historic Clendon House last year. Click below to read more in the NZ Herald.
It is hard to over-estimate the power of a story well told. Sharing stories of people, places and events are central both to capturing hearts and minds, and to the kaupapa of Tohu Whenua. Being appointed to the role of Kaituitui a Rohe Te Tai Tokerau is an opportunity to share with others my passion for Northland’s extraordinary heritage, and to encourage more people to learn and understand how that heritage has shaped our present and potential futures.
Much of my life has been spent in Auckland, with occasional forays overseas, but I have always maintained strong whakapapa and other links to Northland. My partner and I moved to Kerikeri in 2012, and would now struggle to imagine living elsewhere. Alongside a beautiful natural environment, we have ready access to the cultural and physical elements that have contributed to establishing our nation over the past two hundred years and more.
My rather meandering career path has included stints in business, academia and politics, along with a host of ‘character-building’ occupations like labouring on building sites and truck driving. In my downtime, I’m likely to be found somewhere there is good food and drink on offer, or exploring the country’s highways and byways on a motorcycle. As to working with the Tohu Whenua team - Ahakoa he iti he pounamu!
Tauparapara:
Kā ketekete te toroa, kā hākoko te taikō me te tītī, kā ūmere ahau tihei mouri ora!
“Let the Albatross beaks crackle as the Chatham Island Black Petrol and Mutton Birds reside in their burrows, i recite, the breath of life!”
E papaki kau ana te ihu tai werewere ō Tangaroa,
Ko ngā waka e rua, ko Rangimatawai me Okoki, e kautere ana!
Tae noa ki te nohoanga ki te maru ō ngā maunga teitei ō Pipitarawai me te Koro, ko Tītohea
Ka rere te ia ō ngā awa ō Mangatukurewa me Mimitangiatua ki tōku tinana
E tū toka moana te Pā, ko Tangaroa me Okoki, āke, ake, ake!
Ko Whakamaharatanga me Urenui, ngā wharenui mō tōku iwi
Nō Wharekauri/Rerekohu tōku tūrangawaeware, ko tōku mana motuhake
Ko Ngāti Mutunga ō Wharekauri, Te Atiawa ki Waikanae, Kōpūwai, Rapuwai ōku iwi
Ko Shelly rāua Joseph ōku Mātua
Ko Kristie-Lee tōku Tuahine
Ko Laura Reay-Solomon tōku wahine makau hūmārika
Ko Jake Harlem Tamati-Thomas tōku ingoa
Nō reirā tēnei ahau kā mihi māhana ki a koutou kātoa!
My name is Jake Thomas I’m very honoured to be appointed as the Project Manager for Kā Pākihi Whakatekateka ō Waitaha, Tohu Whenua - Canterbury.
Proud to be born at home on 6th February in the Waitangi township, Chatham Islands. I was born in the smallest room of three in Waitangi Hospital, which now stands above my original Pā site on the Island called Pā Tangaroa (Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāti Tama, Ngāti Haumia).
Being raised within a small island community, my older generations who have all now since passed, showed me the old ways of living, our old reo, our whakapapa, our old oral kōrero and traditions and our special island tikanga surrounding tangihanga. The Kaumātua of the island all loved me for my energy to learn my Reo through my tertiary education where the spark in my ngākau ‘heart’ was ignited for our reo and unique island culture. I have always had a strong passion embedded into my wairua to preserve this knowledge for our future generations living on the Chatham Islands so they know who they are and their connection to their tūrangawaewae ‘roots’ “ka ngaro te reo, ka ngaro taua, pērā i te ngaro o te moa” “if our Reo is lost, we will be lost, like that of the moa”.
For the last 5 and a half years I have worked within the Māori Land Court, Te Wipounamu, as a Case Manager assisting our Māori land owners with succession and working with trustees of Māori land trust initiatives developing their aspirations to further benefit their whenua māori. I have experience in teaching Te Reo Māori through wānanga structures and currently also work alongside the Lane Neave law Firm assisting them with their te reo Māori and tikanga Māori development.
Nō reirā kā mihi tāku ngākau mahana ki a koutou kātoa!
Therefore my heart is warm to meet you all!
Kia ora koutou,
Ko Caroline Toplis toku ingoa
Kei Tohu Whenua au i mahi ana
He Kaiwhakahaere Hōtaka tōku tūnga mahi
I am Caroline Toplis and I am the Programme Manager for Tohu Whenua, based in Te Whanganui a Tara Wellington (though my roots are in the mainland in Te Waipounamu). I have been in this role for nearly five years and am passionate about the kaupapa and excited to see Tohu Whenua grow this year with our expanded team in place. My favourite thing about Tohu Whenua is the way all our wonderful sites connect with each other to tell big, important and special stories. I always tell people “don’t just visit one, that is only a small piece of the puzzle, follow your nose”.
My next favourite thing is definitely our team. Along with Jill and Jenny I am pleased to welcome David, Liam and Jake to the whānau this year and I know you will all enjoy meeting them along the way too.
Before Tohu Whenua I worked in a variety of public and foreign service roles in NZ and the UK - though my first job was with the then NZ Historic Places Trust (now Heritage NZ Pouhere Taonga) so I guess you could say I have come full circle!
