I
first encountered Tinirau, (Blackhead) around 1966, as it is now and
has always been it was a place of power. The attraction then was the
surf large clean powerful waves that broke with a force beyond the other
break we rode in the area. Somehow here the power was magnified,
somehow the topography of the ocean floor magnified the swell focused
them into thick southern widow makers. But rising from the ocean waters
was a huge black head-land.
Makereatu
Te Wai oTinirau is the
beginning of all things known to the ancient Maori. Tinirau is the place
of transition from Gods to man. Evolution begins here, in the waters
of Tinirau which was throughout Polynesia and for the for the ancient
Maori focus here in Otako, at Te Wai oTinirau. In the realm of Tinirau
begins the transition of life in the ocean to life on the land. Many
human activities begins with Tiniau-games and dancing, utu and the eating
of flesh. The importance
of the site to Maori people in the region is considerable, Kirsty Elder
(1988) writes) in respect of Makereatu.
“Over the past 2000 years
the significance of the site has commanded respect in several ways;
firstly holding an important place in Maori culture and tradition, being
an ancient tipuna (ancestral) site significant in the creation of the
area, and as an integral part of early Maori navigation. For generations
of Waitaha and Kati Mamoe people, it was a significant stone gathering
site, similar to the pounamu (greenstone) fields of Fiordland. To the
Maori, it was an area of regeneration and conservation and as such,
was a significant part of their resource management, especially regarding
kaimoana.”
Stone gathering from Makereatu
was treated with particular reverence, and the process of gathering
and working it required the observance of strict and complex laws of
tapu, in respect to the tremendous spiritual significance of the site.
Makereatu (translated to leave a seed) is one of the two names given.
It is a name which signifies the joining together of the ancient Waitaha
people and the Kati Mamoe people. Hence the name refers to the time
when the seed was complete and the two people became one.
The other name is Te Wai
oTinirau (the waters of Tinirau), which identifies the site with the
original creation. Tinirau is a proper name. It refers back through
the Chatham Islands, Rarotonga, Samoa, Rangiriri and the sacred isles
of Motutpu.
Blackhead or Tinirau as it was called
by the local Maori, is situated a few km south of Dunedin, New Zealand.
It is a spectacular basalt outcrop that extend several hundred meters
into the ocean and before the quarrying activity was several hundred
feet high.
Tinirau was a sacred or
tapu site of the “Over the past 2000 years the significance of the site
has commanded respect in several ways; firstly holding an important
place in Maori culture and tradition, being an ancient tipuna (ancestral)
site significant in the creation of the area, and as an integral part
of early Maori navigation. For generations of Waitaha and Kati Mamoe
people, it was a significant stone gathering site, similar to the pounamu
(greenstone) fields of Fiordland. To the Maori, it was an area of regeneration
and conservation and as such, was a significant part of their resource
management, especially regarding kaimoana.”
