Puhi Kai Iti / Cook Landing Site
Puhi Kai Iti / Cook Landing National Historic Reserve commemorates the arrival of both Māori and Pākehā in New Zealand. The Cook Monument, unveiled in 1906, was intended to mark the location where James Cook first landed on the islands in 1769 during his first voyage. The granite obelisk monument is now "barely within sight or scent of the sea", as the shoreline was altered by land reclamation as part of expansion at the port of nearby Gisborne. The reserve is one of three national historic reserves in New Zealand. In 1966, the New Zealand Historic Places Trust successfully negotiated to have the area surrounding the monument and a strip of land to the sea set aside as a reserve. It was designated as a national historic reserve in 1990. In 2019 it underwent a significant renovation to include recognition of Horouta and Te Ikaroa-a-Rauru, two large ocean-going waka that first brought Māori to the area in the 13th or 14th century. As part of this redevelopment, the reserve was renamed to its current dual name form. The Cook monument itself is a Heritage New Zealand Category I listed historic place, in addition to its status as part of a