Takapūneke: A place of healing and reclamation

While it is still Wāhi Tapu, Takapūneke is transforming into a sanctuary for whānau of Ōnuku.

The sloping site is located equidistant from Akaroa and Ōnuku, facing Wainui across the water on the other side of the harbour.

In the 1820s, Ngāi Tahu chief Te Maiharanui established a kāinga at Takapūneke. It was a thriving harakeke trading site. That’s until Te Rauparaha showed up.

In 1830 the brig Elizabeth arrived in the bay. Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha and his cronies were hidden below deck. When Te Maiharanui, his wife and daughter boarded the brig to negotiate with Captain William Stewart, they were captured. On shore, a massacre took place. Te Maiharanui was taken to Kapiti Island, a Te Rauparaha stronghold, and killed.

Takapūneke became an urupā, deserted in favour of settling at Ōnuku. Takapūneke became tapu.

The British government was horrified when it discovered Captain Stewart’s complicity in the massacre. As a result, in 1833, James Busby was sent to New Zealand as the “British Resident” (a consular representative), marking the beginning of British involvement in New Zealand affairs.

Busby famously redrafted Te Tiriti o Waitangi after being unimpressed with the efforts of William Hobson, adding the promise that Māori would retain possession of their lands, forests, fisheries, and other property.

In 1840, Ōnuku was one of three sites at which Ngāi Tahu signed the treaty.

Skip ahead to the 1960s and Takapūneke became a site for sewerage disposal. In the late 1970s, a rubbish dump was established. Local hapū was not consulted and archaeological artefacts were destroyed.

The site was declared sacred to Māori in 2002 by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. In 2010, the historic reserve designation and management arrangements were established. The reserve is now managed under a co-governance arrangement between Ōnuku Rūnanga and the Christchurch City Council. The Pou-tū-te-Raki-o-Te-Maiharanui and surrounding Park of Reflection are the first phase of the site’s landscape development.

An exhibition at Akaroa Museum – He Ara Roimata ki te Anamata: Takapūneke, Our journey, Our survivance – is now telling the story of this sacred site. A collaboration between the museum, Ōnuku Rūnanga, Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu, and the Takapūneke Reserve Co-Governance Group, the exhibition responds to the history of Takapūneke and its cultural significance to the whānau of Ōnuku.

Kelly Tikao, Debbie Tikao, Daniel Smith, Helen Brown and Pam Richardson co-curated the exhibition with contributions from Ariana Tikao and Victoria Andrews, and many others.

The exhibition at Akaroa Museum ran until November. There are plans to reprise it at Ōnuku Marae on Waitangi Day.