Most people never see it. But the Kumutoto Stream continues to shape the city above it, just as it has for generations.

Only a short stretch of the Kumutoto now flows in the open. The rest was culverted and piped from the 1860s onwards, running beneath the central city before emptying into Wellington Harbour.

At the original mouth of the stream stood Kumutoto Pā, one of the most significant Māori settlements in early central Wellington. The settlement took its name from the awa that sustained it.

Dennis Ngawhare (Taranaki), manager of Māori heritage recognition and engagement at Heritage New Zealand, says Kumutoto is one of many waterways Wellingtonians cross every day without knowing it.

“Even though it’s been buried for more than a century, the stream still leaves its presence in the landscape,” he says. “You can see it in the way the land dips, how the roads bend, and how the city was built around it and over it.”

Heritage New Zealand has now listed the only remaining above-ground section of the stream, in Kumutoto Forest near Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington, as a Wāhi Tīpuna on the New Zealand Heritage List. The listing recognises both the cultural history of the area and the significance of the waterway itself.

Ngawhare says that recognition matters, even where the stream is no longer visible.

“Underneath our feet, the river is still flowing,” he says. “It’s just moving through pipes and culverts developed over the last 150 years.”

Life still in the water

Despite its altered form, the Kumutoto still supports life. Native freshwater species including kōkopu, kōaro and possibly tuna, or eels, continue to live in the open section of the stream.

Ngawhare, paraphrasing poet and scholar Dr Alice Te Punga Sommerville, says the fish have not changed their behaviour.

“No one has told the eels to stop acting like eels,” he says. “You can bury streams, but fish and other life will still try to find their way.”

He says the presence of native species in a central city stream is a positive sign.

“For a stream in the middle of Wellington, that’s significant. It shows the awa still has life.”

Tracing the river’s course

Ngawhare’s interest in the Kumutoto began while he was an undergraduate at Victoria University. While sitting outside on the marae at Te Tumu Herenga Waka, he could hear the sound of running water.

“There was no stream visible,” he says. “A kaumātua told me that was the Kumutoto flowing beneath us.”

The stream begins beneath Pukehinau Ridge, in the area now occupied by the university. From beneath the marae, it flows down Kelburn Parade through underground pipes that collect water from the surrounding water table.

At Salamanca Road, the stream takes a sharp right-hand turn. Ngawhare says the bend in the road follows the original course of the awa.

“When the road was developed, it followed the river,” he says. “That’s how the awa continues to shape the city.”

From there, the Kumutoto drops beneath the Kelburn Tennis Courts into Kumutoto Forest, part of Wellington’s Town Belt. It then enters another culvert that runs beside the Terrace Tunnel and under the Northern Motorway.

The stream continues beneath The Terrace before emerging near Woodward Street. It then crosses Lambton Quay, which was once Wellington’s original waterfront, before reaching the harbour at what is now known as Kumutoto Plaza.

Ngawhare says the gully where the Terrace Tunnel enters the motorway corridor still reflects the stream’s original path.

The full route from the university to the harbour can be walked in about an hour and a half.

“It’s a striking journey,” he says. “You move from bush to motorway, all while following the same river.”

Kumutoto Pā and early Wellington

Kumutoto Pā was established in 1824 by Wi Piti Pomare of Ngāti Mutunga. In 1835, ownership passed to the tupuna Ngātata-i-te-rangi of Ngāti Te Whiti, Te Ātiawa.

When Ngāti Mutunga left the area, they ritually burned their houses, formally relinquishing their claim.

The settlement stood near where Woodward Street and The Terrace now meet. Although occupied for only around 30 years, it played a key role in early Wellington.

Kumutoto became a centre of the flax trade, with Māori trading directly with English merchants. By the early 1850s, most residents had relocated to places such as Ngauranga, Petone and Waiwhetu.

Ngawhare says the name Kumutoto relates to Māori birthing practices. It was known as a place where wāhine went to give birth.

Today, a subway beneath The Terrace at Woodward Street features a soundscape by artist Kedron Parker, imagining what the stream once sounded like.

Could the stream return?

The idea of “daylighting” the Kumutoto, bringing it back above ground, has been raised before. Ngawhare says the existing infrastructure would make that difficult.

“But water always finds a way,” he says.

Similar projects overseas, including the removal of an elevated motorway to restore the Cheonggyecheon stream in Seoul, show what is possible.

Ngawhare says the Heritage New Zealand listing ensures the Kumutoto’s importance is formally recorded.

“Even if we never see it again,” he says, “the Kumutoto will always be part of how Wellington exists.”