This article outlines the research methodology and some key findings from my doctoral research project (Manning, 2008), which examined the status of Te Atiawa histories of place in Port Nicholson Block secondary schools' history classes. It describes the research participants' experiences of cultural continuity and discontinuity experienced in familial and secondary school settings when learning about the past. It also describes the participants' history topic preferences, and their perceptions of the benefits and barriers in relation to a potential place-based education partnership between local Te Atiawa people and the participating schools. Two metaphors are developed to help conclude this article. I conclude that New Zealand history teachers often deliver an enacted curriculum, contradicting the objectives of the official New Zealand curriculum and the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi