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Description
Long Pose at a very cloudy sunset.
Unveiled at the Whakatane Heads in 1965 as a memorial to the wife of Sir William Sullivan. This bronze statue atop Turuturu Rock, lies at the mouth of the Whakatane River and commemorates the bravery of Wairaka and the daughter of Toroa, captain-navigator of the Mataatua waka.

When the Mataatua waka first arrive at Whakatane after making a perilous voyage from Ngati Awa’s ancestral homeland of Hawaiiki 600 years ago, the men left the women alone in the canoe while they went ashore. When the canoe started to drift back to sea, Wairaka (defying the tapu that forbade women to handle a canoe) seized the paddle and brought the waka back to shore crying ‘Kia Whakatane au i ahau’ – I will act the part of a man. This cry is said to the origin of the towns’ name.

Whakatane - New Zealand

Description
Long Pose at a very cloudy sunset.
Unveiled at the Whakatane Heads in 1965 as a memorial to the wife of Sir William Sullivan. This bronze statue atop Turuturu Rock, lies at the mouth of the Whakatane River and commemorates the bravery of Wairaka and the daughter of Toroa, captain-navigator of the Mataatua waka.

When the Mataatua waka first arrive at Whakatane after making a perilous voyage from Ngati Awa’s ancestral homeland of Hawaiiki 600 years ago, the men left the women alone in the canoe while they went ashore. When the canoe started to drift back to sea, Wairaka (defying the tapu that forbade women to handle a canoe) seized the paddle and brought the waka back to shore crying ‘Kia Whakatane au i ahau’ – I will act the part of a man. This cry is said to the origin of the towns’ name.

Whakatane - New Zealand