Our new houses at Central.

Kiwa-Horouta-Cook-Endeavour

Four strong names with significant ties to our land.  Two explorers searching for fabled lands as told by their respective ancestors, and the two vessels they travelled on.

Kiwa arrived at the mouth of the Turanganui River around 1350AD after navigating the Horouta waka down the East Coast of the North Island.  He had a skeleton crew with him after the waka was grounded at Ohiwa in the Bay of Plenty.  Paoa, the captain of the Horouta, led a party overland and instructed Kiwa to take the waka down the coast and they would meet up again soon.

Kiwa arrived at the Turanganui River before Paoa did, and waited for him to arrive.  He named the area ‘Turanganui a Kiwa’ translating to ‘the waiting/standing place of Kiwa’.  Paoa arrived in the area, but down towards the Waipaoa River, and Kiwa saw him and they once again met up and the history of our region begins.

400 years later, Captain James Cook of the Royal Navy is sailing the HM Endeavour in the Pacific Ocean and is under special instructions to find the great southern land described by sailors before him, and charted by the famous Dutch sailor Able Tasman.  On October 6th 1769, Nicolas Young, a young deckhand, sighted land from atop the mast.  This land was Te Kuri a Paoa (the dog of Paoa) and was later to be named ‘Young Nicks Head’.

Cook sailed into the bay and anchored.  He and some of the crew rowed ashore and set foot on land at the mouth of the Turanganui River.  Here, at Te toka a Taiau, a meeting between Maori and European took place that is crowded in misunderstanding and controversy.  Cook departed the bay after a few days and named the waters ‘Poverty Bay’ as the stop-over provided no food or water for their journey.  This chapter begins the European history of our area, and our nation.

Two significant sailors, two significant vessels.  Although centuries apart, the discoveries of Turanganui a Kiwa and Poverty Bay took place in the same spot at the mouth of the river.  They may not have known each other but they will be forever linked.

Our house names are a reflection of the efforts of these explorers to provide new settlement and adventure for their respective people.  Our people today, from all cultures. Are here today in Gisborne and New Zealand because of the events of these two leaders and their vessels.

We want our students to be explorers and adventurers in life and we want them to be proud of our history and celebrate this through fun, competitive, colourful, and energetic school-wide events.