A piece of history has gone full circle.
Papakura Local Board has celebrated Rosehill College's 50th year with a picture of the former district council coat of arms that the school created for the then council.
Designed by kaumatua Haare Williams and carved by former teacher Noel Kerr, the coat of arms was given to the district council when it replaced the city council in 1989.
Today, both coats of arms are housed in the board chamber.
Chair Brent Catchpole says the carving incorporates a beehive celebrating Sir Edmund Hillary, recognition of the Crown and New Zealand Army, a horse for the thoroughbred industry, a kereru for native flora and fauna, and symbols taken from the former city council crest in a surveyor’s theodolite and palm.
The features are unified by stylised references to Red Hill and Pukekiwiriki Pa, linked by a koru, representing growth, new life, strength and peace.
“A carver is essentially a storyteller, a historian, tasked with telling the stories of the people for the people, through design, through whakairo,” Mr Catchpole says.
“I only wish I had said that, but it was celebrated weaver Lilian Hetet Owen, part of the famous Hetet family that includes master carver Rangi, who has done so much to keep carving alive.
“Both Haare and Noel followed that whakairo tradition by documenting our history and I hope new Rosehill students who pass under the picture recognise that history and enjoy the strength and peace represented by its koru.”
