Waitangi - NZ's first wahi tupuna

Te Kenehi Teira, right, presents a copy of the wahi tupuna listing report to Pita Paraone while kaumatua Renata Tane looks on. The plaque, at right, will be mounted on a rock. Photo / Heritage NZ

The listing of Waitangi Treaty Grounds as New Zealand's first wahi tupuna - a new classification marking places of great ancestral significance - has been marked with a formal ceremony.

The plaque was unveiled and a bound copy of the wahi tupuna listing presented to the Waitangi National Trust on Friday.

The ceremony was attended by Far North kaumatua Renata Tane and John Klaricich, Waitangi National Trust chairman Pita Paraone and Heritage New Zealand kaihautu Te Kenehi Teira.

Mr Teira said Waitangi was at the heart of New Zealand as a modern bicultural country. It also had great ancestral importance to many Maori, which was central to the wahi tupuna.

The Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Act 2014 created the new classification to identify places important to Maori for their ancestral significance and associated cultural and traditional values - even if they were not tapu in the traditional, spiritual, religious, ritual or mythological sense.

"Wahi tupuna still have great significance to Maori, but for values that may be different from those associated with wahi tapu, and that are connected to tupuna," Mr Teira said.

Ancestral associations with Waitangi began with Maikuku, a puhi (virgin of high rank) whose tapu was so profound she was confined in a cave by the shore and guarded by a taniwha. Many Ngapuhi today claim descent from Maikuku and her husband Hua. In the first half of the 19th century, Ngapuhi rangatira were in the vanguard of change as they welcomed Pakeha missionaries and traders. They also suggested Waitangi as a base for James Busby when he was appointed British Resident in 1833.

Waitangi National Trust chief executive Greg McManus said it was fitting Waitangi was the country's first wahi tupuna as it is undoubtedly New Zealand's most important historic site with significance for all New Zealanders.

The five classifications available in the New Zealand Heritage List are historic places, historic areas, wahi tupuna, wahi tapu and wahi tapu areas.