Tohu Heritage New Zealand
Heritage Categories
Every place in the Tohu catalogue belongs to one of seven categories. They shape how each site is documented, what questions we ask of it, and how its significance is understood within the wider story of Aotearoa.
Categories activate as real places are captured, not before. Residential, Civic, Industrial, Religious and Transport are live now; the rest will open the same way, one real site at a time. Read the Journal for updates as new categories go live.
Kāinga: settlement, home place
Residential
Historic homes, cottages, and domestic buildings where people lived. Early colonial houses, villas, and family estates.
Taonga Māori: treasured things of Māori
Māori Heritage
Pā sites, urupā, wāhi tapu, and places of deep significance to iwi and hapū. Sites where Māori history lives in the land itself.
Hapori: community, public life
Civic
Buildings built for everyone: town halls, courthouses, libraries, schools, and hospitals. The shared infrastructure of public life.
Hokohoko: trade, exchange
Commercial
Banks, warehouses, arcades, hotels, and mercantile buildings. Places where Auckland's commercial story was built, floor by floor.
Ahumahi: industry, to work with the hands
Industrial
Mills, factories, wharves, and working infrastructure. Sites that shaped the land and powered the economy.
Karakia: prayer, incantation, a gathering of spirit
Religious
Churches, chapels, synagogues, and sacred grounds. Places built for worship, reflection, and community gathering across faiths.
Waka: canoe, vessel, a means of carrying
Transport
Ferries, trams, buses, carriages, and cars, alongside the stations, terminals, bridges, and depots built to serve them. The vehicles that carried people between places, and the places that carried the traffic.
