Free self-guided tour
Know your own neighbourhood and the strategic importance of Porirua in the past. This app (on Android and Apple devices) provides self-guided tours around our beautiful harbour and coastal shores.
Please be aware that Ngāti Toa Rangatira iwi conduct bus tours now of the area and should be the first point of contact if you are wanting a guided/hosted tour for your students. Contact Te Rūnanga O Toa Rangatira at Takapuwahia.
For a self-guided tour of historic 19th century Porirua use the links below to access the Explore Porirua App. This app was launched in 2021 and currently locates over forty walkways, sites, tracks, parks and heritage trails around Porirua. One of the tours, ‘Places of Significance Around Te Awarua-0-Porirua’, is based on the First Footprints Tour developed by Pātaka as a half day bus tour for schools twenty years ago after the publication ‘An introduction to the history of Porirua’ was reprinted.
Sites include a coastal whaling station, a colonial stone barrack remains and Wellington’s last fighting pā site. Visual references are made to Pātaka’s interactive Children’s Gallery Te Awarua-o-Porirua, and this is the best place to start the tour. The tour covers a round trip of approximately 40 kms.
iOS
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/discover-porirua/id1547509753
Android
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=group.isparx.exploreporirua&hl=en_NZ&gl=US
Social Sciences: Students will understand how the past is important to people. Students will understand how Te Awarua-o-Porirua is significant for individuals and groups. Students will understand how time and change affect people’s lives.
Aotearoa New Zealand Histories: Students will understand that Māori history is the foundational and continuous history of Aotearoa New Zealand and know the origin and settlement stories of particular groups and their hekenga/migration within Aotearoa. Students will think critically about sources and perspectives from the past.
Students will know about colonisation as a worldwide imperial project and its consequences for mana Māori and the complicated relationships between iwi and early newcomers seeking their resources.
Email patakaeducation@poriruacity.govt.nz or phone (04) 237 3551 if you'd like us to tailor a programme to meet your learning goals.
