KEY POINTS:
While it could be mistaken for an overgrown paddock in front of an idyllic beach on the East Coast, to Hone Taumaunu and his Ngati Konohi people, it means a lot more.
Mr Taumaunu, who is a kaumatua at Whangara, about 30km north of Gisborne, and was an adviser on the set of the movie Whale Rider, took the Herald to a wahi tapu (sacred area) - one of "probably hundreds" scattered around the East Coast.
The area, which was fenced off and covered in tussock and long grass, is the site where an ancient waka is believed to have been buried hundreds of years ago and an urupa (burial ground) for whales that had beached themselves in the past.
"As you can see there are no signs, no one would know this place is here," he said.
"But to us it is a vital acknowledgement of our place as tangata whenua and Maori," he said.
Mr Taumaunu said he supported legislation that would see signs indicating where wahi tapu were around the East Coast.
"People should just show common sense really, you wouldn't have a picnic in a cemetery, would you?"
There was also "no way" that visitors would be banned from, or asked to pay to visit, the beach which his people have called home for centuries.
"That is not our style, not at all," he said.
"If people want to come here to have a picnic lunch or a swim they are most welcome to, there's a road with public access to the beach and they are welcome to use it."
Te Runanga o Ngati Porou chairman, Dr Apirana Mahuika, said wahi tapu carried historical and spiritual significance for Maori.
He said many pre-dated signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and were not exclusively along the coastline.
Up the coast at Uawa (Tolaga Bay), Te Rawheoro marae chairman, Padre Bill Grey, said the idea that people would be banned from beaches was "perpetrated by outsiders".
"Visitors to our rohe (area) and indeed non Ngati Porou have nothing to worry about," he said.
Mayor of Gisborne Meng Foon said people living in the district were generally mindful and respectful of various rahui (prohibitions) hapu imposed in times of deaths at sea or in rivers.
"For those people who aren't used to it from around New Zealand, you should have no fear of being excluded from at least 98 per cent of the coastline and most other places," he said.
