Ka whiti te raa ki tua o Rehua, ka ara a Kaiwhare i te rua. As the sun shines on the West Coast, Ngaati Te Ata Waiohua will rise from the depths of the Manukau Harbour.
A magnificent new pou named Ngaa Hua o Te Maanuka, carved by Dean Flavell (Ngaati Te Ata Waiohua) now stands on the Waimahia Inlet, overlooking the Manukau Harbour.
The pou whakairo depicts Kaiwhare, the harbour taniwha (spiritual guardian), wearing a kaitaka (prestigious cloak), and on his chest the kaimoana (seafood) of the harbour, entwined in a kupenga (fishing net) and worn as a taa hei (neck ornament).
The hoe (paddle) speaks of ancestral waka using land between the Taamaki River and the Manukau in pre-European times as portages, just as they did at Te Awaroa at Waiuku to enter the Waikato River. Both paths are scribed into the blade in the form of the kooiri koowhaiwhai pattern, symbolising nature and the breadth of life.
Either side of the hoe are niho taniwha patterns in the form of a cloak’s edge, referencing the harbour’s surrounding whenua and acknowledging Te Waiohua iwi as the harbour’s tangata whenua.
At the rear is a pattern recalling the landfall of the Tainui waka with reference to Te Maanukanuka o Hoturoa (the troublesome waters of Hoturoa), the sandbanks and quick tides providing many challenges, and Tangaroa-whakamau-tai, controller of the tides.
The pou was blessed in a ceremony led by Paora Puru and Charles Looker of Ngaati Te Ata Waiohua, with Manurewa-Papakura Councillor Angela Dalton unveiling it.
“I was hugely privileged to be told at the blessing that I would be unveiling the pou, a gesture that left me humbled but proud to have been asked to play a small part in such a significant event to the iwi we share our home with.”
When the Manurewa Local Board first discussed renewing the Kaimoana jetty, any timber salvaged was to be used for Māori artwork, but the state of the recovered timber made that impossible, so a new artwork was commissioned.
Flavell completed the pou last year, but when a site visit to the proposed location revealed graffiti and anti-social behaviour, a different location was sought, with the Waimahia community choosing a site next to the playground by the walkway to the rebuilt jetty.
Ko Te Maanuka te paataka kai o Ngaati Te Ata Waiohua. The Manukau Harbour is the food source of Ngaati Te Ata Waiohua.
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