Nau mai, welcome to the Otago Regional Council’s new website. 

The previous website had remained largely the same since 2017. Since then, advances in technology meant that we had an opportunity to ensure visitors to our website had a vastly improved experience. With an increasing number of people using mobile phones to visit our pages, especially to get public transport information, it was also clear that ORC needed a more device-friendly site. 

We also recognised the need for improved search and navigation functions so users could quickly and easily find what they need. A new website design would also give us the ability to present information in different and more accessible ways, for example, in tables, feature blocks and image galleries. 

This whakataukī was provided by mana whenua and underpins mana whenua and ORC aspirations. It has been used to guide our design works on the website:  

Toitū te marae a Tāne 
Toitū te marae a Takaroa 
Toitū te takata. 

If the land is well 
If the sea is well 
the people will thrive. 

This whakataukī reminds us that when our environment is flourishing, our people will flourish, and calls for us to act as good kaitiaki (guardians) to our lands, rivers, lakes and seas.  

Aukaha selected Kāi Tahu artist Andre Te Hira to develop a series of designs used across the website that reference the domains of Takaroa and Tāne, as well as the wellbeing of our people. 

These designs pull together aspects of mahika kai, used in the traditional pattern called a pātikitiki, which is a based on the flounder, to symbolise sustenance, abundance of sea life and the wellbeing of the environment in the domain of Takaroa.  

The aramoana pattern refers to the traditional travel routes throughout the whenua traversing through oceans, lakes and rivers – referring to the domain of Tāne and Takaroa.  

The kaokao pattern refers to protection, strength and resilience, implying thriving communities and the role of the Otago Regional Council. 

Imagery referring to kāika, settlements, depicts the landscape throughout the region. 

Other design aspects reference natural hazards and draw on the atua (gods) Rūaumoko, the atua of earthquakes, and the atua of the wind, Tāwhirimatea, while the kō, a traditional digging stick, draws on whakapapa as it references the Waitaha (early tribe to occupy Te Waipounamu) ancestor Rakaihautū who dug out the great southern lakes with his kō named Tu Whakarōria. 

We’ve used imagery of ngutu kākā, or the kākā beak, to symbolise the native flora and fauna, whose movements also resemble the different waterways throughout the region, while the niho taniwha (taniwha teeth) patterns highlight the taniwha as kaitiaki of our region, reminding us to care for our taiao/environment.