The Gisborne Herald
‘He can rest now’
The kauri bust of Ngāti Porou chief Tamati Tamaiwhakanehua – who signed the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi – has been returned to New Zealand after it was bought from a London auction by one of his descendants. Carved out of fossilised resin, the bust of...
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How to get a home loan
Applying for a mortgage: The home loan application process PART 1 Before you apply for a home loan, you’ll need to get some documentation together. Regardless of whether you’re going direct to a bank as your lender or going through a mortgage adviser...
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Big turnout at relay as funds hit $78k mark
A total of 47 teams took part in last weekend’s Relay for Life event, raising $78,392 for the Gisborne East Coast Cancer Society. Hundreds of people walked amid rain, wind and sunshine, clocking up thousands of laps around the track. “Despite the...
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Touch move criticised
Teams are criticising a decision to move a national schools’ tournament from Rotorua to Gisborne, with concern some will be priced out or unable to find accommodation. The New Zealand Secondary Schools Touch Championships will be held in Gisborne in...
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GHL buys CBD building
The river-end of Lowe St in Gisborne is closer to becoming “more pedestrian and family friendly” after the district council’s commercial arm bought a building that encompasses a set of shops and flats. Gisborne Holdings Ltd (GHL) has purchased the...
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Voyager in decline
The creator of a $70,000 council-commissioned sculpture left overgrown with weeds and invisible from the nearby street has offered to come from Melbourne to “refresh” the work. The once striking red Voyager sculpture on the banks of Gisborne’s...
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‘Near misses daily’
AGisborne student and her father have taken to social media, urging the district council to provide their kura with a pedestrian crossing, after they say a more “pragmatic” email approach was rejected. A raised pedestrian crossing at Te Kura Kaupapa...
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$8m lost every day
Closures of State Highway 2 through Waioweka Gorge cost an estimated $8 million in lost gross domestic product every day. NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi’s (NZTA) 2024 SH2 Waioweka Gorge Corridor Resilience Single Stage Business Case, released to the...
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‘Hundreds’ involved in successful search
Asuccessful search for a vulnerable woman involving “hundreds of people” has been praised as “a powerful reminder” of what can be achieved when a community comes together. A police spokeswoman said the police received a report at 7.25pm on Wednesday...
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‘I don't plan on sleeping’
Cancer Society stalwart Daryl Gowers is set to add another chapter to his extraordinary fundraising story. Having raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Gisborne East Coast branch of the Cancer Society, Gowers is to take on one of his more...
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‘Archaic policy’
The Ministry of Education has been accused of being “short-sighted” and “archaic” following changes made to Gisborne school bus routes, which principals say would be “a massive blow” for students and their families. The ministry says it needs to apply...
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Wardens warn move-on orders will not work
As the Government takes action to enable police with powers to issue move-on orders for rough sleepers and acts of public disruption, Gisborne’s Mā ori Wardens warn that this will not resolve the issue. “I don’t think they have thought it through,”...
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Farmer ordered to forfeit $16m in assets
The Gisborne farmer behind New Zealand’s largest-ever GST fraud has been ordered to hand over up to $16 million in real estate and other assets to the Crown. John Richard Bracken, then 54, was jailed for eight years and six months in 2021 after being...
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INSIDE: New era nears as Rugby Park soon to reopen
The long-awaited date for the official reopening of Rugby Park in Gisborne has been set for July 25. It has been described as a “reset moment” for the game in the Poverty Bay union. The two-stage project has largely been carried out by Currie...
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Principal fights licence
AGisborne school principal is opposing a liquor store’s licence renewal as she says the area has become a “local night club or day club” littered by empty bottles and men urinating in the street. However, the liquor store’s representation says the...
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‘We talk every night’
A couple who first went out together in the 1950s, rekindled their romance decades later and got married four years ago starred in a recent Air New Zealand Valentine’s Day video. Gisborne Herald journalist Anne-Marie de Bruin spoke with John...
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No confidence vote for Mangatu committee
Shareholders in a Gisbornebased Māori incorporation have passed a vote of no confidence in its committee as an application to investigate its multimillion-dollar overseas investment loss is considered in court. Mangatu Blocks Incorporation’s annual...
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10,000 reasons to catch the BIG ONE
More than 200 anglers will have their eyes on a $10,000 prize when they cast lines into the water offshore today in the annual Gisborne Marlin and Tuna Hunt. Gisborne Tatapouri Sports Fishing Club’s annual four-day contest, sponsored by Gisborne...
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Port acts to fix rail issue
Adisused railway line that intersects with a popular Gisborne cycleway is being filled after a cyclist suffered multiple fractures from falling when his bike’s wheel got caught in a track. Patrick Tinnelly, 71, spent two weeks in hospital after...
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‘Bureaucratic bullying’
Atrustee of Māori whenua in Te Araroa says the Māori Land Court-appointed responsible trustee should expedite access to thousands of dollars in dividends needed for recovery work after severe weather. The office representing the responsible trustee...
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From hillside home to cabin
ATe Araroa family are looking to move into a Toitū Tairāwhiti cabin after a landslide destroyed their hillside home and many of their treasured belongings during the January storm. As the “crazy” weather hit on the night of January 21, David Torrey...
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Fresh rain fears
Anxiety levels are rising in storm-damaged areas of the East Coast as more rain is predicted to hit the region this week. January’s severe weather devastated parts of the East Coast, including Te Araroa, the aftermath of which was likened to “a war...
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School, club, daycare targeted by burglars
AGisborne school, daycare and sports centre have been hit in a spate of burglaries in Te Hapara. Gisborne Trampoline Club head coach Doug Callahan said he discovered last Thursday their premises, at the Stihl Shop Gisborne Sport Centre, had been broken...
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Woody debris clean-up costs nearly double
An increasingly complex extraction process has contributed to costs for woody debris removal nearly doubling on a volume basis in Gisborne. After Cyclone Gabrielle, an estimated 1.4 million tonnes of debris were deposited across Tairāwhiti’s hill...
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Waste site dumped
Mobile homes have one fewer designated public place to dump liquid waste in Gisborne after a volunteer-run facility closed last week. The public waste station on Awapuni Rd has been run by a volunteer since 2009, but they say it’s time for the council...
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Entire road is ‘fragile’
Road crews are working hard on State Highway 35 in the northern parts of Tairā whiti, clearing slips and excavating soil following severe weather last month. The road remains closed between Wharekahika/Hicks Bay and Pōtaka after more land movement in...
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Jones renews push for Hicks Bay wharf plan
Minister for Oceans and Fisheries Shane Jones will again advocate for a new barging wharf facility up the East Coast this coming election. He says recent weather events have increased the need for infrastructure, such as a wharf, to ensure goods and...
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BACK TO SCHOOL
The 2026 school year has begun and schools and childcare centres in Tairā whiti are among those throughout the country dealing with the effects of an increase in the cost of living. The Gisborne Herald talked to principals from some of the city’s...
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‘We’re very struck by the huge challenges in the area’
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon touched down in Gisborne yesterday morning for his second visit in a week since the region was devastated by severe weather last Thursday. He was accompanied by East Coast MP Dana Kirkpatrick, with Minister for Housing...
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‘So well looked after’
The owner of a Te Araroa coffee store feared she’d be unemployed after she and others were evacuated on Saturday because of landslide risks following the devastating storm. But Maree Brownlie, owner of the Twilight Coffee Garden, was allowed back to...
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8-year-old shares big win
An 8-year-old girl and a 70-plus-year-old reeled in the big one without getting in a boat at the Bay Bonanza on Sunday . . . $41,000 in cash as joint winners of the Lucky Angler draw. Summer Faber and Roger Lynch were the last two standing in the...
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ROAD TO RECOVERY
Progress clearing roads and an all-clear to return home for residents at risk from landslides will come as a relief for many near the top of the East Coast. The first escorted convoys of vehicles moved along State Highway 35 from Tikitiki up to Te...
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Family trapped on roof as water tears through home
A mother has described her traumatic experience of being trapped on the roof of her “creaking” home with children desperate to be rescued from rising floodwaters. Huia Ngatai climbed on to the roof of her Te Araroa home as floodwaters overwhelmed...
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Prepared for worst
Upgraded heavy rain warnings over the Gisborne District as a tropical storm hits the North Island have prompted warnings and disrupted work to clear previous slips on State Highway 2. MetService expanded its red heavy rain warning over Gisborne from...
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‘Feral’ burglars ‘even took spare curtains’
A mother whose Gisborne house was broken into on New Year’s Day says “feral scum” burglars have “broken” her whānau’s “wairua” (spirit). Baby items and a toy car belonging to her 2-year-old son, Tewai-Moerangi, were among items taken from Hine Slade’s...
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‘A river was flowing across the road’
Gisborne man Joss Ruifrok and daughters Tui and Indigo Ruifrok worked together to make the most of a bad situation at Manganuku campsite in the Waioweka Gorge when heavy rain caused slips and road closures resulting in around 40 people being evacuated...
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Praise for sea rescue
The combined forces of rescue agencies have been praised after three men spent several hours in the ocean with only one lifejacket between them following a fishing boat capsize off Tolaga Bay. Maritime NZ Rescue Coordination Centre staff described...
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Kid’s author sweeps most-borrowed list
Afavourite children’s author, whose books have spanned generations, has topped the charts for most loaned-out books at Gisborne’s HB Williams Memorial Library. Gisborne’s top five library loans in 2025 were all stories written by American author and...
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Council slammed over 12yr-old disability plan
AGisborne resident is upset that the council’s disability strategy hasn’t been reviewed in more than a decade. This is despite holding a meeting between members of the disabled community and Gisborne District Council in 2024, at which they requested...
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Verbal, physical assaults on hospital staff increase
More than 100 assaults on staff were reported at Gisborne Hospital in a year between 2024-2025 — a 36% increase on the previous year. The union for nurses says incidents are likely underreported, and the physical, emotional and mental impact of...
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Little Faith region’s first baby of the year
Gisborne’s first baby of 2026 is Faith Paumoli Hammond-Papuni. Faith, born at 8.56am on New Year’s Day, weighed 5.8 pounds (2.6kg) and was 48cm long. Joyous mother Irirangi Hammond-Papuni, aged 25, told the Gisborne Herald she and baby stayed at...
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Back in the driver’s seat
Sonya Smith had nearly forgotten about the Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust raffle she had entered nearly two months earlier when she got the news she had won a Lamborghini. The Nuhaka resident was convinced the phone call was for a survey until they...
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No road deaths in our region for 2025
The provisional number of deaths on Tairāwhiti roads in 2025 is zero, a first since at least 1990. A road safety advocate from the region said the news is excellent, while police say all drivers still need to do better when it comes to safety. A...
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GO GRANNY GO
An “electric four days” has come to a close with no significant police incidents and a newly minted Gisborne star at Rhythm and Vines. DJ SuperGran Molly Pardoe says she had an “amazing” stage debut on Tuesday but is not planning another performance...
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Locals keep Rhythm and Vines humming
For locals working Gisborne’s Rhythm and Vines, the event can sometimes be a family affair. Amid an atmosphere not dampened by the lingering mud from a dousing of rain earlier in the week, the Gisborne Herald met Gisborne siblings Eruera Wharehinga,...
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Three receive New Year honours in Tairā whiti
Journalism’s loss was education’s gain when Kāren Johansen met Florence Duff in Gladstone Rd, Gisborne, in January 1970. Johansen, made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) in the New Year 2026 Honours List for services to education and...
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Couple’s race to tie the knot at Ellerslie
Modest wedding plans became something far larger for a horseloving Gisborne couple who said “I do” during the Ellerslie Boxing Day races. Steve Middleton and Louise Savage’s wedding was witnessed by some 15,000 racegoers when they tied the knot at the...
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Searches lead to four arrests in shooting case
Police have arrested four “people of interest” as part of their ongoing homicide inquiry into the death of Bill Maangi in Gisborne. Maangi, 36, was found critically injured on the front lawn of the Forrester House accommodation complex after he was...
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Big build underway as R&V readies for return
Up to 22,000 people are expected to flock to Gisborne’s Rhythm and Vines festival next week, and organisers say preparations are in full swing. “This is year 23 for us ... it’s what we do for a living,” Live Nation director of festivals Kieran...
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A time to remember
AGisborne marae has marked another step forward in its Cyclone Gabrielle recovery journey with a ceremony burying lost taonga following the demolition of its wharenui and ka¯uta. “It was a time to reflect, to remember and to sit in the present with...
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‘Pillar of our iwi’
‘An extraordinary man” and “a trusted kaitiaki” are among the tributes that have flowed following the death of highly respected Tairāwhiti kaumātua Taina Ngarimu. Ngarimu (iwi Ngati Porou, hapū Te Aitanga a Mate), known to many as “Papa Taina”, passed...
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East Coast ‘forgotten’
East Coast MP Dana Kirkpatrick says her isolated electorate is often forgotten about by decision-makers, but great people among her constituents shouted “very loud” for their communities. The first-term MP, reviewing the past year and looking forward...
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Yacht club warns loss of base could end it
Gisborne Yacht Club will cease to exist if it loses its Kaiti Beach base of over 50 years, a Gisborne District Council meeting was told last week. The council approved a plan earlier this year to investigate the return of ancestral land to Gisborne...
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Councillors clash over traffic management
Gisborne District Council’s new local transport committee will receive “an anatomy of how temporary traffic management is calculated” after two councillors offered divergent opinions on the controversial issue. Committee chairman Colin Alder, at its...
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