Image: Grant Sheehan ©

Te Tai Tokerau Northland

The birth of a bi-cultural nation

Te Tai Tokerau Northland’s Tohu Whenua, and the interweaving journeys, tell the stories of our beginnings. These are places where both our Māori and European ancestors arrived, centuries apart, and where their identities were defined.

Early encounters, cultural differences, challenges and aspirations were the hallmarks of understanding how we became New Zealanders. Stand where our people first engaged, feel the tensions and curiosities, apprehensions and partnerships, and appreciate why our journey continues today.

Clendon House

A colonial home built in the 1860s, Clendon House tells the story of Captain James Reddy Clendon and his wife Jane Takotowi Clendon, both remarkable people for very different reasons.

Kororipo Heritage Park

Kororipo Heritage Park is where Māori and Europeans lived side by side and where some of the most important early meetings between our two cultures took place.

Māngungu Mission

Established as a Wesleyan mission station, Māngungu was the scene of the largest signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Pompallier Mission and Printery

New Zealand's only surviving pioneer printery and tannery, Pompallier Mission time-capsules the impact of Bishop Pompallier and his missionaries in introducing Catholicism by producing written works in Te Reo Māori.

Rākaumangamanga - Cape Brett

A place of outstanding beauty, Rākaumangamanga - Cape Brett has long been a welcoming point of arrival, from early waka to the first seaplanes.

Rangihoua Heritage Park

Rangihoua Heritage Park is the site of Aotearoa New Zealand's first planned European settlement, a place where Māori and Europeans learned to live side by side.

Ruapekapeka Pā

Reacting to the British breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, it was at Ruapekapeka Pā that Māori chiefs and their outnumbered warriors made their final stand of the Northern Wars.

Te Waimate Mission

Aotearoa New Zealand's first European farm, Te Waimate Mission was established as a model village in 1830.

Waitangi Treaty Grounds

Waitangi Treaty Grounds marks our start as a bi-cultural nation, where Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed by Māori chiefs and the British Crown on 6 February 1840. It is our country's most important historic site.

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