Today students from a local school dressed in the clothes worn 130 years ago and spent the day commemorating the 130 year anniversary of the eruption of Tarawera.
Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Te Koutu visited the Buried Village of Te Wairoa then walked from Puarenga to the City Focus, where they performed a couple of waiata, before walking on to Ohinemutu.
Teacher Tiahomarama Fairhall said she thought it was an important event for the school to commemerate as "a lot of us descended from those who survived".
She said it was also important to remember those who passed, "and to remember our heritage and history".
She said they did a karakia at the Buried Village, next to the house of Tuhoto Ariki, the high priest of the time, who was buried in the house for four to five days before he was found.