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Kōrero: Waterfalls

Te Rēinga Falls

Image
Edward Soper Stapleton Sandys painting of Te Rēinga Falls

This painting from the 1880s by Edward Roper Stapleton Sandys evokes the grandeur of the Te Rēinga falls in inland Gisborne. The local tribe, Ngā Hine Hika, believe that a taniwha (water monster), Hinekōrako, lives beneath the falls.

Download the document to read a story of Hinekōrako written by pupils at Te Rēinga Maori School in the 1950s (55 KB).

Download attachment (PDF file, 54.31 KB)

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: C-075-013

Pastel drawing by Edward Roper Stapleton Sandys

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Jock Phillips, Waterfalls – Māori and waterfalls, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/11761/te-reinga-falls (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Jock Phillips, i tāngia i te 1 March 2009.