What better place to start our story than with a creation story... the first shipwreck! 

Rock art reproduction on the wall of the shelter at the Caroline Bay Playground in Timaru. The shelter was designed by John Rushton and the project was championed by the Timaru Suburban Lions Club. The rock are is near the entrance of the playground, and is a perfect place to start the playground experience - with a creation story and rock art. - Photo Roselyn Fauth

Piece of rock art on display at the Te Ana Māori Rock Art Centre in Timaru.  Photograph by Geoff Cloake. Image used with the permission from Te Ana Ngāi Tahu Māori Rock Art Centre and Te Rūnanga o Moeraki.

There are over 500 Māori rock art images nearby. The meaning and function have been lost over time, so we are left as viewers to interpret the art.

Some say this image could depict a creation story of an ancestral waka, the Ārai-te-uru which sailed past what is now known as Te Tihi-o-Maru (Timaru), down the coast and capsized near Matakaea (Shag Point).

Many of the passengers went ashore to explore the land and did not make it back to the waka before daylight. Instead they turned into many of the landmarks of Te Waipounamu (South Island).

Aoraki (Mount Cook) is at the centre of the Ngāi Tahu creation traditions of Te Waipounamu (South Island).
Aoraki (Cloud in the Sky) is on his grandfather Kirikirikatata shoulders. Pātītī (Patiti Point) and Tarahaoa and Hua-te-kerekere (Big Mount Peel and Little Mount Peel) were also passengers. This is why Aotearoa (New Zealand) maunga (mountains) are sacred.

This piece of rock art was removed from Takiroa (Waitaki Valley) and is on display at Te Ana Māori Rock Art Centre. The rock art was photographed and reproduced with the permission of Te Rūnanga o Moeraki, Arowhenua and Waihao.

Please do not reproduce this rock art image without permission.

 Rock art reproduction on the wall of the shelter at the Caroline Bay Playground in Timaru. - Photo Francine Spencer

Aoraki/Mount Cook, mountain, the highest in New Zealand, located in the Southern Alps/Ka Tiritiri o te Moana, west-central South Island. It reaches an altitude of 3,724 metres (12,218 feet) – high enough to be permanently covered in snow. - Photo Geoff Cloake

On an ancient pathway, this is Takiroa, Waitaki Valley. Takiroa is a significant landmark in the tradition of Kāi Tahu Whānui.

This rock shelter lies on an ara tawhito (ancient pathway) following the Waitaki River from the mountains to the sea. The headwaters of the Waitaki River are fed from Kā Roimata o Aoraki - the tears of Aoraki - the ancestral mountain of Kāi Tahu Whānui. Takiroa is a physical reminder of the ancestors who have passed through this landscape. It provided shelter, sustenance, and guidance to them and was and still is a place to share knowledge, a place to learn from, and a repository of people and treasures from the past. - whitestonegeopark/takiroa

A tall cliff to the right, with a rock shelter running along its length at the bottom. A European man is standing in front of the rock shelter, possibly alongside a fire Takiroa is a rock shelter at Waitaki, used by Maori.  - Mantell, Walter Baldock Durrant, 1820-1895 :Takiroa caves looking N. to Punaamokatore across the rise. 15 December [1851]. Ref: E-332-022. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22893746

Te Tihi-o-Maru: This is the original Māori name for Timaru, which means "the summit of Maru". Maru is a Māori deity associated with war and agriculture. Others have suggested that the name derives from te maru - 'place of shelter' or from tī, 'cabbage tree' and maru - 'shady'.

"Patiti Point" 

"Pātītī Point is located on the South Canterbury coastline at Timaru. Pātītī was a passenger on the Ārai-te-uru waka, which capsized off Matakaea on the North Otago Coastline. After the capsize, many of the passengers went ashore to explore the land. However, they needed to be back at the waka before daylight. Most did not make it, including Pātītī, and instead were transformed into many of the well-known landmarks of Te Waipounamu. In 1880, Hoani Kāhu from Arowhenua described Pātītī as “he kāinga nohoanga, mahinga kai, and he tauraka a waka”. - kahurumanu.co.nz/atlas

Huatekerekere "Little Mt Peel" 

"Huatekerekere (Little Mount Peel) is a mountain in the Tarahaoa Range. Huatekerekere was the wife of Tarahaoa, and both were passengers on the Ārai-te-uru waka that capsized off Matakaea (Shag Point) on the Otago coastline. After capsizing, many of the passengers went ashore to explore the land, however they needed to be back at the waka before daylight. Most of the passengers, including Huatekerekere, did not return to the waka in time, and instead transformed into many of the well-known geographical features of Te Waipounamu. Huatekerekere transformed into the mountain that can now be seen in the Tarahaoa Range”. - kahurumanu.co.nz/atlas

Tarahaoa "Mt Peel"

"Tarahaoa (Mount Peel) is the prominent mountain overlooking the Rangitata River in South Canterbury. Tarahaoa was a passenger on the Ārai-te-uru waka that capsized off Matakaea (Shag Point) on the Otago coastline. After the capsize, many of the passengers went ashore to explore the land, including Tarahaoa and his wife Huatekerekere. They were accompanied by their son and daughter, Kirikirikatata and Aroarokaehe. All the passengers needed to be back at the waka before daylight. However, most did not make it, and instead transformed into many of the well-known landmarks of Te Waipounamu. Tarahaoa and Huatekerekere transformed into the mountains now also known as Mount Peel and Little Mount Peel. Their children, Kirikirikatata and Aroarokaehe, are now represented by two large trees in Peel Forest. The local Kāi Tahu hapū of Kāti Huirapa, centered at Arowhenua, strongly identify with the mountain, often referring to Tarahaoa as their principal mountain. When the Arowhenua Native School (now the Arowhenua Māori School) was opened in 1895, the name Tarahaoa was given to the building. This building Tarahaoa, still stands in the south-western corner of the school grounds, next to Arowhenua Marae.” - kahurumanu.co.nz/atlas 

Kirikirikatata "Kirikirikatata / Mount Cook Range"

"Kirikirikatata is the Māori name for the Mount Cook Range. Kirikirikatata was a passenger on the Ārai-te-uru waka that crashed near Matakaea (Shag Point) on the Otago coastline. After the capsize, many of the passengers went ashore to explore the land, including Kirikirikatata, who carried his grandson, Aoraki, on his shoulders. The passengers needed to be back at the waka before daylight. However, most did not make it, including Kirikirikatata and Aoraki. They instead turned into many of the well-known geographical features of Te Waipounamu. Kirikirikatata transformed into the mountain known today as the Mount Cook Range. Aoraki remained on his grandfather’s shoulders, and transformed into the mountain known as Aoraki/Mount Cook.” - kahurumanu.co.nz/atlas 

Aoraki "Aoraki / Mount Cook"

"Aoraki (Mount Cook) is at the centre of the Ngāi Tahu creation traditions of Te Waipounamu. There are two specific traditions referring to Aoraki. In the first account Aoraki was an atua (demi-god) who arrived from the heavens with his three brothers. The return voyage went drastically wrong, and the waka crashed into Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa (the Pacific Ocean), forming what would later be known as the South Island (its earliest name being “Te Waka-o-Aoraki”). Aoraki and his brothers climbed to the highest side of the waka where they turned into the highest peaks of Kā Tiritiri-o-te-moana (the Southern Alps). In the second account Aoraki was a passenger on the Ārai-te-uru waka that crashed on the Otago coastline. After capsizing, many of the passengers went ashore to explore the land, including Kirikirikatata who carried his grandson, Aoraki, on his shoulders. The passengers needed to be back at the waka before daylight. However, most did not make it, and instead turned into many of the well-known landmarks of Te Waipounamu.” - kahurumanu.co.nz/atlas

Matakaea "Shag Point / Matakaea"

"Matakaea (Shag Point), located immediately north of the Waihemo (Shag River) on the Otago coastline, is where the famed Ārai-te-uru waka capsized. The Ārai-te-uru waka came from the ancient homeland of Hawaiki, bringing kūmara to Aotearoa. After reaching Te Ika-a-Māui (North Island), the waka then travelled down the east coast of Te Waipounamu. The journey was reasonably smooth until the waka encountered heavy seas at the Waitaki River mouth. Here the round food-baskets and water-carrying gourds were lost overboard forming the Moeraki boulders; the waka then continued down the coast before capsizing at Matakaea. Many of the passengers went ashore to explore the land, but did not return to the waka before daylight, and instead turned into many of the well-known geographical features of Te Waipounamu. Respected southern Ngāi Tahu leader Rāwiri Te Mamaru described in his evidence to the 1879 Smith-Nairn Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Ngāi Tahu land claims that Matakaea is a rae (headland), kāinga nohoanga (settlement), pā (fortified settlement), and kāinga mahinga kai (food-gathering place).” - kahurumanu.co.nz/atlas

zReproduction of the rock art to go inside the shelter. It can connect and share creation stories of the Caroline Bay and wider area. Some say this is image represents the ancestral waka Te Tai-o-Ārai-te-uru that sailed past and wrecked near Moraki. Passengers turned into landmarks we see around us at Caroline Bay.

Thank you to Francine Spencer (who is our cultural advisor and a volunteer on the CPlay Design Team) for making this special reproduction possible.