Product Overview

Visit Tohu Whenua, our nation's most treasure heritage places. These are places that have shaped Aotearoa New Zealand. Located in stunning landscapes and rich with stories, they offer some of our best heritage experiences. 

Product Description

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.

Ruapekapeka Pā | Explore ditches, bank defences and a cannon at this hilltop battlefield where Māori chiefs and their outnumbered warriors made their final stand of the Northern Wars.

Pompallier Mission and Printery | Take an unforgettable tour of Aotearoa New Zealand’s only surviving pioneer printery and tannery, where Bishop Pompallier and his missionaries produced written works in Te Reo Māori.

Rākaumangamanga - Cape Brett | Hike or take a boat to this spectacular headland whose crystalline rocks once guided the first seven waka to Aotearoa and which later became the site of a lighthouse.

Rangihoua Heritage Park | Explore the place where the first planned European settlement was welcomed by Māori, where missionaries began writing down Te Reo Māori, and where New Zealand’s first Christmas Day service was held.

Kororipo Heritage Park | Take your time to fully experience this place of gathering where some of the most important early meetings between Māori and Europeans were held. Walk the pā of famed chief Hongi Hika, have an authentic cultural and historical experience at Te Ahurea, picnic on the banks of the Kerikeri River, shop at the Stone Store (New Zealand’s oldest store), and tour our oldest building Kemp House.

Waitangi Treaty Grounds | Allow at least half a day to experience everything on offer at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, the place where Te Tiriti o Waitangi was first signed by Māori chiefs and the British Crown on 6 February 1840, marking our start as a bi-cultural nation.

Te Waimate Mission | See the remains of a model European village built by missionaries and learn about the influence of European farming practices on the missionaries and Māori alike.

Māngungu Mission | Visit the site where our largest signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi took place - tour the mission house, take in the stunning views of Hokianga Harbour and cycle along the Pou Herenga Tai Twin Coast Cycle Trail.

Clendon House | Wander through a colonial home built in the 1860s and be inspired by the story of Jane Takotowi Clendon, a Māori widow who raised eight children and cleared her husband's debt when all odds were against her.

Company Info

Tohu Whenua is a network of Aotearoa New Zealand's most treasured heritage places that visitors of all ages can enjoy. Tohu Whenua connects New Zealanders and visitors with our heritage and enhances our sense of national identity by promoting significant historical and cultural sites. 

Tohu Whenua is a partnership between Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai and Ministry for Culture and Heritage Manatū Taonga.