Gisborne, New Zealand
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Gisborne Tūranga-nui-a-Kiwa (Māori) |
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| Main urban area | |
Central and northeastern Gisborne viewed from Kaiti Hill
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 Gisborne
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| Coordinates: 38°39′45″S 178°1′4″E / 38.66250°S 178.01778°ECoordinates: 38°39′45″S 178°1′4″E / 38.66250°S 178.01778°E | |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Region | Gisborne Region |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Meng Foon |
| Population (June 2016) | |
| • Total | 36,100 |
| Time zone | NZST (UTC+12) |
| • Summer (DST) | NZDT (UTC+13) |
| Area code(s) | 06 |
| Website | gdc |
Gisborne (Māori: Tūranga-nui-a-Kiwa "Great standing place of Kiwa") is a city in northeastern New Zealand and the largest settlement in the Gisborne District (or Gisborne Region). It has a population of 36,100 (June 2016). The district council has its headquarters in Whataupoko, in the central city.
The settlement was originally known as Turanga and renamed Gisborne in 1870 in honour of New Zealand Colonial Secretary William Gisborne.
The Gisborne region has been settled for over 700 years. For centuries the region has been inhabited by the tribes of Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki, Rongowhakaata, Ngāi Tāmanuhiri and Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti. Their people descend from the voyagers of the Te Ikaroa-a-Rauru, Horouta and Tākitimu waka.
East Coast oral traditions offer differing versions of Gisborne's establishment by Māori. One of which legends recounts that in the 1300s, the great navigator Kiwa landed at the Tūranganui River first on the waka Tākitimu after voyaging to the region from Hawaiki and that Pāoa, captain of the waka Horouta, followed later. According to one legend, Kiwa waited so long for the Horouta canoe to arrive that he called its final landing place Tūranganui-a-Kiwa (The long waiting place of Kiwa).
However, a more popular version of events is that Horouta preceded Takitimu. In 1931, Sir Āpirana Ngata stated that Horouta was the main canoe that brought the people to the East Coast and that Ngāti Porou always regarded Takitimu as "an unimportant canoe". Māori historian Rongowhakaata Halbert affirmed this account, stating that Paoa's crew on the Horouta were the first inhabitants of the East Coast after migrating from Ahuahu or Great Mercury Island. Paoa gave his name to various places across the region, most notably the Waipāoa River (Wai-o-Pāoa).
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