...experience the stories, history and culture of Northland with this 'grassroots' website that celebrates the places of Northland, and the people and events that made these places special.

This is the Place - Ko Tenei Te Wahi is a project that will give anyone with access to the internet the opportunity to add written stories, images (photos, pictures, artworks), and sound (oral stories, song, sounds, music) to share their views on a particular place in Northland. People also have the opportunity to discuss and debate the content of the site, creating a forum where communities will be encouraged and empowered to explore ideas of place, and what those places signify to them.

The site is based on a map, that people can use to find their places of significance. Once their place has been located (this could be a beach, a tree, a town, a river, a pa site), they can mark their place, and then add their story, image, audio or all of these things.

These stories may be written by men and women in their retirement years who want to leave a permanent record for their grandchildren of the places they grew up, worked, and lived. These stories may be from tourists wanting to share travel anecdotes with family back home, as well as sharing them with other visitors to the region. These stories may be created and added to by young families working together to build up a history of their own.

We are placing down a mat, a foundation of historical data, cultural taonga, and academic collections, on which to lay the stories, experiences and perceptions of the living, for future generations.

This project has been made possible with funding from the Digital Strategy Community Partnership Fund and countless individuals who have gifted time and expertise to this project. The project went live on 30 September 2008 - visit the site and explore and share stories of Northland! www.thisistheplace.org.nz