Waipapa ki Arapuni Wāhi Ahurei

Welcome to the Waipapa ki Arapuni Wāhi Ahurei Cultural Landscape mapping initiative. Here you can find out more information about this important landscape, it's cultural significance to Raukawa Iwi, and more.

It is a valuable body of work to map Raukawa narratives, and to preserve the values inherent in this area for future generations. This is an accessible tool to tell our stories and share why this place is very special to us.

This tool is also 'live'; forming a working document within the Raukawa Charitable Trust framework for environmental management of our landscapes.

The Waiapapa ki Arapuni Wāhi Ahurei body of work sits as a collective document, drawing on and framed within an alignment to our Raukawa Stategic values.

To find out more about our kaupapa, please follow the link to our organisational website.

This work has been developed to implement the strategic outcomes of Raukawa Iwi, and specifically to:

• Enhance the association with Raukawa marae, hapū and uri to the Waikato River
• Develop a greater contemporary understanding of historic and cultural relationships with the sites and landscapes of the Waipapa ki Arapuni Wāhi Ahurei Cultural Landscape
• Enhance Mātauranga Raukawa as it would apply to the Waikato River and it's landscape

Bringing together maps, historical and cultural narratives, along with archaeological and recorded information, GIS data sets and research, a layering and mapping process has been undertaken to 'build' and define the Waipapaa ki Arapuni Wāhi Ahurei Cultural Landscape.

The Waipapa ki Arapuni Wāhi Ahurei Cultural Landscape has been created by bringing together;

• Pūrakau Mapping

• Cultural Landscape Mapping

• Cultural Landscape Resources

• Cultural Site Information

Learn about the historical and cultural references, and the whakapapa of the Waipapa ki Arapuni Wāhi Ahurei that is still present in the landscape today, and has shaped and defined the extent of the Waiapapa ki Arapuni as a landscape of significant cultural importance. Click on the following link to hear the kōrero of significant Pūrakau narratives:

• Take Whenua Hou a Rakataura me Kahukeke
• Te Haerengā a Uetapu me Kahupeka
• Taku Ara Rā Ko Mahina-a-Rangi
• Te Takahanga a Whaita Mā

View the collated data map sets and defined extent of the Waipapa ki Arapuni Wāhi Ahurei Cultural Landscape:

• Cultural Landscape | Base Layer
• Cultural Landscape | Extent
• Landform and Contours
• Hillshade
• Zones of Visual Tolerance- Connected
• Zones of Visual Tolerance- Collective
• Current Land Use and Pressures
• Current Land Use and Pressures | Overlay
• Aerial and Cultural Overlay

Much of the current landscape hides what was once a rich and diverse natural resource along the edge of the Waikato River. Here you can find out more about the flora and fauna that sustained the Waiapapa ki Arapunui Cultural Landscape area.

• Find data and information for cultural sites making up the Waipapa ki Arapuni Wāhi Ahurei Cultural Landscape.
• Take a virtual tour of the impressive Piraunui Pā by clicking on the following series of links: