Pōhaturoa, a rock in the centre of Whakatāne, is now a memorial to those who fell in the First World War. But long before this the rock was a sacred place for Ngāti Awa. In its tunnel (once a cave) young warriors were tattooed, and in the nearby Waiewe Stream newborn children were immersed in a form of baptism. Twelve Ngāti Awa chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi here on 12 June 1840.
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Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
Photograph by Shirley Williams
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