Te Tuhi’s history traced back all the way to the early 1960s with the creation of the Pakuranga Arts Society. Pakuranga Arts Society founded by a group of local women, the first meetings were in a garden shed. It was only in 1975, it was opened as New Zealand’s first purpose-built arts centre. Te Tuhi was created in a partnership between the
Fisher Gallery and the Pakuranga Community and Cultural Centre. The name
Te Tuhi was gifted by the local iwi (tribe)
Ngai Tai. The name
Te Tuhi comes from the legend of the ancestor Manawatere, a
Māori voyager and explorer who arrived in the
Hauraki Gulf before the arrival of the
Tainui. Landing at the beach at what is now
Howick's
Cockle Bay, he made his
tuhi, or mark, on a
pōhutukawa tree situated on the foreshore, using
karamea, a
red ochre. The pōhutukawa tree of the story still stands today, although the mark has since gone. == Present ==