Local History

Welcome to the first city in the world to see the sun.  This wonderful gift was presented to us by Maui-Tikitiki-a-Taranga who fished up the Ika-a-Maui (North Island).  His waka (canoe) “Nukutaimemeha” is said to rest atop of Mount Hikurangi, the ancestral mountain of the Ngati Porou people.
Rawhiti (the east) was first inhabited by Māori who sailed in canoes from far away; the canoes were Horouta, Takitimu, Nukutere, Tereanini and others. The main tribes that are known today are, Ngati Porou, Aitanga-a-Hauiti, Ngai Tamanuhiri, Rongo Whakaata, Whanau a Kai and Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki.

Captain James Cook arrived here on 9 October 1769. He landed on Kaiti beach. No stores were traded so he named our region ‘Poverty Bay’.

In the late 1880s there was confusion between the original name of our place – ‘Turanga’ and Tauranga and due to a clerical bungle, our name Turanga was debated in parliament and by our community.  William Gisborne, Colonial Secretary proposed that the city be named after him – to this day we are known as Gisborne city.