Te Punawai was located at the foot of what is now known as Richardson Street. It was a kainga, fishing station, and tauranga waka. This kainga was watered by a spring-fed stream. It was a residence of the tupuna Meihana Kereopa. A fishing station and kainga was also located on Manuka (Haulashore) Island, a short distance from the river mouth. Ngāti Kuia tupuna had considerable knowledge of plac es for gathering kai and other taonga, ways in which to use the resources of the whenua and awa and tikanga for the proper and sustainable utilisation of resources. All these values remain important to Ngāti Kuia toda y. The river and its associated wetlands were an important source of fish, eels and flax. The wetlands were a valuable source of eels into the twentieth century. In 1870 James Hector described shoals of upokororo (grayling, or native trout), which were a ‘highly esteemed’ fo od source fo r Māori, in the river. This resource was largely destroyed by the introduction of trout. A body of water in Nelson now called the Queens Gardens (known by early European settlers as the ‘Eel Pond’) is the last remaining vestige of once extensive wetlands associated with the river. The river also formed a major route to the Nelson Lakes and Te Hoiere. Mahitahi features in our pepha and is central to our identity: Maungatapu te Maunga Maungatapu is our mountain Mahitahi te Awa Mahitahi is our river Whakatu te Marae Whakatu is our marae Ngāti Kuia te Iwi Ngāti Kuia are its people. Mahitahi symbolises for Ngāti Kuia people the intense nature of their relationship to their environment, and the mauri or life force that is contained in all parts of the natural environment and binds the spiritual and physical world. Mahitahi incorporates the cultural va lue of Ngāti Kuia mauri; Ngāti Kuia has mana here, whakapapa associations and history here. We have tikanga and kawa which involve tapu and noa to this place. We have a responsibility and obligation to this place and its cultural, spiritual, historic and traditional values. WAIMEA, WAI-ITI, AND WAIROA RIVERS AND THEIR TRIBUTARIES This wāhi tapu incorporates our cultural values of ake tupuna. It is a place which our tupuna explored and used. It incorporates our cultural values of take ahi ka. It is a core part of our cultural identity. We are identified as tangata whenua here and the land was included in the Te Hoiere area identified by Ngāti Kuia tupuna in 1883 as a place of their lands. Ngāti Kuia tupuna had considerable knowledge of places for gathering kai and other taonga, ways in which to use the resources of the awa and whenua and tikanga for the proper and sustainable utilisation of resources. All these values remain important to Ngāti Kuia toda y. The Waimea River formed a water source for the renowned Waimea gardens, located at the mouth of the Waimea River adjacent to a pā and kainga complex. Smaller ‘satellite’ pā were located elsewhere on the banks of the Waimea River and at the junction of the Wairoa and Wai-iti Rivers. Mako, pātiki and kahawai were taken in the estuarine waters at the mouth of the river. The river environs were also a good source of flax, and clay used in the process of drying the flax came from the river near the inland foothills of the ranges. The main pā was just behind what is now the Appleby School site. Around 1,000 acres of cultivation located near the river mouth represent generations of sustained effort by the tupuna. The cultivation land was built up with ash (to provide potash), gravel and fine sand and silt to raise soil temperatures. This is sometimes Te Tau Ihu Statutory Acknowledgements Page 35 of 163