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The reserve closed in January 2016 and reopened in December 2023 after the upgrade, which included a walking track to the edge of the waterfall pool with more than 750 stairs and three viewing platforms.<\/p>\n
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One incident had been reported since the site reopened: a visitor broke an ankle after slipping on gravel, according to a council statement.<\/p>\n
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\nRestoration of original name
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The council report said the original name, Te Rere o \u014cmanawa, became anglicised after the arrival of European settlers, the development of a hydro power station and the creation of the reserve.<\/p>\n
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Ng\u0101ti Hangarau Hap\u016b Trust chairman Koro Nicholas told Local Democracy Reporting that the proposal was not a renaming, but recognising the name used for centuries.<\/p>\n
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Nicholas said the land was wrongfully confiscated from tangata whenua in the 1860s.<\/p>\n
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He said the Crown admitted this in 2012, but the hapu still struggled to reconnect with the whenua today.<\/p>\n
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\u201cOur people have had a very strained relationship with the land, lots of our kids don\u2019t even know that it\u2019s a part of our whenua, part of our whakapapa.\u201d<\/p>\n
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He said the hapu had lived on this land for 800 years.<\/p>\n
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\u201cOur language, our culture, our identity, were all developed as a part of ourselves living within that environment.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt was important for us when we opened up the track that our own people were able to come back and reconnect with this land.\u201dNg\u0101ti Hangarau Hap\u016b Trust chairman Koro Nicholas.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
To Ng\u0101ti Hangarau, he said, the name Te Rere o \u014cmanawa meant the place their hearts could connect with the environment.<\/p>\n
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Nicholas said reverting to the original name was not about excluding anyone.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt wasn\u2019t exclusive from our perspective \u2013 we didn\u2019t think it was an exclusive resource to be opened only to our people.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The ultimate goal was for visitors to have a meaningful experience and leave with a richer understanding of the significance of nature.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWhen people understand the significance of this place, they have a stronger connection to it and use it in the way the local people intended.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
A statement by Ng\u0101ti Hangarau in 2022 said the waterfall and the pool of water below were recognised as w\u0101hi tapu (sacred).<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
The falls were also considered good luck, and a place for fortune-telling and for healing.<\/p>\n
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\nNaming policy
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The council\u2019s naming policy allowed for the renaming of existing reserves where a new name would better meet the aim to promote local identity and mana whenua connections.<\/p>\n
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The naming policy was revised in May 2020 and encouraged locally significant M\u0101ori names for streets, reserves, community facilities and other public places in Tauranga, and to enable greater visibility of mana whenua connections to Tauranga.<\/p>\n
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If the council decided to rename the reserve, the name Te Rere o \u014cmanawa would be formally recognised on supporting documents and records.<\/p>\n
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It would be supported by a translation for the next few years, and as long as required.<\/p>\n
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The \u014cmanawa Falls Governance Group and the council would support Ng\u0101ti Hangarau\u2019s planned application to the New Zealand Geographic Board to officially rename the waterfall to Te Rere o \u014cmanawa.<\/p>\n
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