Waimimiha marks a place of identity
Waimimiha’s surroundings along the southern end of Te Oneroa a Tohe include dunes, artesian water, a nest of lakelets, marshlands which used to be teeming with birds and fish so numerous you could cross the Waimimiha Stream walking on their backs.
It is a stop-over along the beach, and for more than 1000 years it has been a favoured camp site of Takiwa o Ahipara iwi.
It was also accessible from both land and sea, making it an important, strategic coastal site during both war and peace.
During seasonal hunting expeditions food was gathered and preserved at Waimimiha beside the lake, which was then much deeper and prolific.
The Waimimiha lake and water system is connected to the Tangonge lake catchment, and 100 years ago the system was the largest lake in the region. The natural resources associated with it provided for entire communities living around Kaitaia, Pukepoto and Ahipara.
Ma¯ori history identifies Lake Waimimiha and the area surrounding it as culturally significant, and it is one of the lairs of the taniwha, Paraweta, who still patrols the inshore as kaitiaki. Over the centuries many ancestors have enjoyed the hospitality of the lake, but over the last 50 years or so the knowledge and practices associated with it have diminished.
This has been the result of draining the wetlands by local farmers, and consequently severe depletion of the fish and bird life.
The erection of the pou whenua is part of an iwi and hapu¯ initiative to regenerate an understanding of the importance of the area, and to restore the ecological integrity of the lake system and its wildlife.
The beach itself also has cultural and historical significance.
The name Waimimiha is the Ma¯ori word for ambergris, which is found around the area.
It is also a place where a spiritual ancestor Moehau emerged from the ocean on the back of a whale and communicated with the elders.
The Arawairua, or spirit path, also passes through the area, linking it to numerous other sites of significance along the beach.
The beach front, the lake and its surrounds remain an important cultural site for iwi as a food source, and the iwi expects that the siting of a pou there will rekindle the iwi’s association with it and encourage others to support its ongoing protection as a historical and cultural marker of iwi identity.
Takiwa o Ahipara says the pou is its link to the past, its place in contemporary society and the future health and wellbeing of its people.