A $500,000 waka which has been left to rot in an East Coast paddock is set to be relocated. Photo / Alan Gibson
A $500,000 waka which has been left to rot in an East Coast paddock is set to be relocated. Photo / Alan Gibson
A half-million-dollar 45m waka which has been left to rot in a livestock paddock on the East Coast for the past 19 years is set to get a new home.
Te Aio o Nukutaimemeha – named after Māui's waka – was initially commissioned by the then Ngāti Porou iwi authorityto be built in time for the 1990 celebrations marking 150 years since the signing of te Tiriti o Waitangi. But it wasn't completed until 1999.
The waka – which weighs 22 tonnes and is almost half the length of a rugby field – was created by waka-maker and carver Matahi Whakataka-Brightwell, who has been described as "the Peter Jackson of waka".
And despite costing $500,000 - paid for using iwi and public funds - it has never touched the water due to its size, the logistics of taking it to the water and just how many people it would need to paddle it.
Since mid-2018 Whakataka-Brightwell and his backers have led a campaign to first reclaim and then have the war canoe restored to its former glory; with his creation suffering extensive damage after being left to battle the elements in a paddock near Tikitiki; about 26km northeast of Ruatoria.
As well as sections of the waka rotting, it has also been graffitied.
Being exposed to the weather has seen the waka degrade beyond repair
But on Tuesday the Save Te Aio o Nukutaimemeha Waka Taua group confirmed they "no longer have the energy" to challenge Te Runanga o Ngāti Porou (TRONP) for the waka's return.
"Plans for cutting up the waka are now in motion and its creator has now come to terms [with] its fate," a post on social media read.
The group said the "remains" of the waka would be relocated to Mt Hikurangi; the sacred mountain of Ngāti Porou and said to be the first piece of land to emerge when Māui fished up the North Island. A series of wooden sculptures (whakairo) representing Māui and his family already feature on Mt Hikurangi.
Whakataka-Brightwell would not comment this week.
But TRONP chief executive Herewini Te Koha confirmed the waka would be relocated to Mt Hikurangi by as early as next weekend.
He refuted claims those in charge of the removal would be "chopping up" the waka, instead saying it would be carefully cut into two pieces and then reassembled on Mt Hikurangi.
Iwi had hoped the waka could be restored and turned into a tourist attraction. Photo / Alan Gibson
The waka would be positioned in a place accessible for many to visit and appreciate.
Te Koha said a blessing had been held on its current site ahead of the removal project.
Once the two pieces were reattached at its new home on Mount Hikurangi, a shelter would be created to protect it from the elements. TRONP was committed to a "long-term" restoration project, he said.
"It is in very degraded state. We have all got to accept that.
"None of us can look back with too much pride over the last 19 years or so. But we are drawing a line under that and giving ourselves the ability to bring the waka back to a fitting state."
The waka was initially commissioned to take part in a flotilla of iwi waka at Waitangi during the 1990 sesqui celebrations.
Livestock surround the waka near Tikitiki. Photo / File
Te Koha said delays in its construction had led to much debate on the East Coast over the entire project.
"The plans for the waka grew exponentially to the point the waka was nowhere ready for 1990 and [it was] close to another decade before the build phase was completed," Te Koha said.
"The delays and the expansion of the project, to the point where the waka itself became a much larger structure and craft than had been originally envisaged, [meant] it became quite a polarising project by the time it was finished."
In May 2005 Whakataka-Brightwell made a public plea for Ngāti Porou to hand him ownership of the waka so he could start a restoration project.
Then Ngāti Porou chief executive Amohaere Houkamau said at the time the waka's future was of huge concern and that one thing being considered was building a shelter to protect it from the weather.
The waka had the potential to be a tourist attraction, Houkamau said.
In 1990, then Waitākere City mayor Sir Bob Harvey - chairman of a committee that brought waka to Auckland during the Commonwealth Games - described Whakataka-Brightwell as "the Peter Jackson of waka".
