Tūranganui-a-Rua, Tūranganui-a-Maru, Tūranganui-a-Kiwa e! by Walton Walker (Ngāti Porou) is a historical and cultural text that explores the stories behind the naming of the bay now officially known as Tūranganui-a-Kiwa / Poverty Bay. The text weaves together traditional Māori narratives of the waka Horouta and navigator Kiwa with accounts of Captain James Cook’s arrival in 1769. It highlights how different groups named the same place, showing that place names carry identity, authority, and history.

The text concludes with the modern-day campaign led by Kaiti School students to restore the Māori name, emphasising community voice and the importance of recognising tangata whenua perspectives. By combining kōrero tuku iho, historical recount, maps, and photographs, the text supports students to understand how naming reflects power, colonisation, and cultural identity in Aotearoa New Zealand.

This pack contains a wide range of response activities including:

• A skimming and scanning task to build confidence in locating key information, and making early predictions about the text.
• Comprehension and critical thinking activities exploring key historical understandings.
• A structured discussion guide with rich, open-ended questions designed to promote inference, reasoning, collaboration, and evidence-based thinking.
• Thinking tools and exploration frameworks to support metacognition and balanced perspective-taking and to deepen understanding of key themes and messages
• Practical, real-world extension tasks and activities to reinforce key literacy skills. 

This comprehensive pack supports comprehension, historical inquiry, critical thinking, creativity, and connection-making — all grounded in the exploration of Tūranganui-a-Rua. 

Curriculum Phase: Phase 2
Year Level: Year 4

Social Sciences – Aotearoa New Zealand Histories: first encounters, colonisation, naming and claiming, Māori perspectives, community action, continuity and change, identity and belonging

Key words/themes include: Aotearoa New Zealand histories, colonisation, Cook, Endeavour, hapū, Horouta, iwi, James Cook, kaimoana, Kiwa, naming, petition, Poverty Bay, rohe, tangata whenua, Tūranganui-a-Kiwa, tūpuna, waka, wero