Rotorua - Land, Place, Roots

The geo-thermal waters which gush from the land around Lake Rotorua, provided an invaluable resource for Māori settlers, who used it for cooking, cleaning, heating and bathing. Naturally, this made Rotorua a hot spot for settlement. When Pākehā arrived in New Zealand, there was a similar trend of gravitation to the region for its precious, geo-thermal resource. Except this time, they endeavoured to capitalise and commercialise this resource, exploiting the capability of geo-thermally heated water for healing and spa treatments. Indeed, by the mid 1800’s, Rotorua had become a world renowned destination of healing and well-being, with tourists from the northern hemisphere travelling to New Zealand to partake in various steam and hot water treatments in an attempt to cure various diseases and ailments. This lead to the formation of the city we see today, which has effectively been built on a foundation of health and wellness tourism, made possible by the geo-thermal nature of the landscape. As a city which has been founded and developed around concepts of health and wellness tourism, it would be an understatement to say Rotorua today is no longer a picture of health. The city and wider region has suffered in recent years from a number of issues which contribute to a poor holistic regional health. My project focuses on restoring the holistic health of Rotorua’s landscape, centred in Rotorua’s Kuirau park, New Zealand’s only free geo-thermal park.