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.”