Taupō town centre features a space for all people

Master carver Delani Brown (left) and cultural and creative director Kingi Pitiroi enjoy the space they have created in the Taupō town centre. Photo / Dan Hutchinson

The impressive new features on Taupō's foreshore provide more than just a photo opportunity - it’s a place for everyone to connect to the surroundings, and empowers Tūwharetoa people to come together to express their mana whenua.

The Taupō & Tūrangi Herald spoke to the two artists most involved in the impressive array of pou and sculptures between the Taupō CBD and Tapuaeharuru Bay.

Creative director and cultural adviser for the project, Kingi Pitiroi, said the main thing was to create a shared space for the public, to allow them to connect and tie in to the space, and be able to connect to the environment and the landscape.

But it also had an important role for about 30 hapū from around the lake that make up Tūwharetoa.

He said the maunga, or mountains, are the true mana whenua of the region, and their job was to discuss with each other how they could take care of the mauri [lifeforce] of the land and the lake.

“We want to bring that into this space here, and that thinking into this space here.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and other guests study the centrepiece pou in the new marae ātea space where the Taupō CBD meets Tapuaeharuru Bay foreshore. Photo / Dan Hutchinson

“Iwi didn’t really have a space to come together and discuss things that were arising, and a lot of it had to do with healing. When they had this village on the lake, the iwi got together to perform rituals in order to heal the lake and heal the whenua, but we had no central place to go to, so it was about giving us a space where we could do that – giving us a platform or an altar where we could perform those rituals.”

The giant centrepiece of the area - a huge carving on a single piece of tōtara - was actually one of the last things to enter the design.

Pitiroi designed the space and the water features which represent the rivers and the weaving together of the people from around the lake, while master carver Delani Brown designed the four pou that represent the four directions of the wind, which in turn represents all people and their mauri and also the four elements - water, air, earth and fire.

“In amongst that, Kingi Pitiroi said, ‘Can you put one in the middle?’, and that was a game-changer,” Brown said.

He sourced a giant tōtara that had been felled at least 70 years ago and preserved among exotic trees, and started with a “scribble” as a design.

Hine-parawhenuamea looks out to Lake Taupō from the new Tapuaeharuru marae ātea in the Taupō CBD. Photo / Dan Hutchinson

In the centre of the pou, facing the lake, is one of the guardians of the lake – the kaitiaki Horomatangi - of whom many legends have been told.

At the top, facing the lake, is Hine-parawhenuamea – she is the water that springs from the earth and which all rivers start with. She is the child of the two figures on the other side.

There is a vine that swirls up the pou to represent the vine of life that all people are part of. There is the native eagle Te Hokioi and other features representing various landmarks and features around the lake, such as Te Mako [sharks] and Whekenui, which translates to giant octopus, and references to te moana nui Akiwi, or the Pacific Ocean, where the people originally came from.

Pitiroi said he was happy that the general public seemed to love it, but the real pressure came from making sure it serves the needs of his iwi.

Brown says it’s great to see people interacting with the sculptures, as that is what it was designed for.

“It’s awesome that people grab it – they rub up and grab things. It’s there to touch and rub.”

The totara for the central carving came from a forest near Mangakino on Pouakani lands.

Brown said totara and kauri are favoured equally by carvers because it was a soft wood to work with but durable.

“It’s been on the ground for about 70 years. It dates back to when pioneers came through and pretty much burnt the natives to plant the pine and this was pretty much trapped between the pines for 70 years which is why we still have access to them.”

He said the carving was done by himself and Kingi Tāwhiao.

“When I first started carving he was one of my teachers so it was an honour to have him working with me because I am always learning.”

The sculpture is on a slight lean for the simple reason that the tree was on a lean.

“It’s hard to find a straight one. Usually we put them upside down so we get a lot of meat out of the top but this one was a bit of a double header so we just sort of went with it.”

The new Tapuaeharuru marae ātea is a striking feature of the upraded Taupō CBD. Photo / Dan Hutchinson

Pitiroi said it was important to understand the outlook from the space before going in and explaining what the pous actually meant.

“The whole idea of creating this space - Tapuaeharuru - was about giving people the opportunity to be able to connect to this - the lake and the surrounding mountains.

“That was the main thing, that there was a shared space for the public to be able to connect and tie in to a space and be able to connect to the environement and the landscape.”

The other aspect was to create the ātea space- the courtyard area of a marae where discussion and debate can take place.

“It’s about empowering our people - Tūwharetoa - and uplifting our people within the context of the whole project. It was about creating this space that our iwi could call their own and the idea was that it would tie and weave the iwi together, as though it was a marae ātea.”

In this case, the lake is the marae and the mountains are the “true mana whenua” of the region.

“This place was created for that reason ... the mountains - their job was to help settle the mauri of the whenua - and that is kind of what our job as people is too, how we can come together and fix things that may arise in the future.

“We talk about the maunga being the true manawhenua of this place and their marae ātea and their meeting place was the foundation of the lake. So we bring all of that into this ātea space we have created here.

It's party time on Roberts St to celebrate the completion of the Taupō Town Centre Transformation Project. Photo / Andy Taylor

“In terms of the water features, it ties in with the kōrero. These are an embodiment of an idea that these are strands of the rivers and streams surrounding our lake and feeding into our lake and tie into the waters of our lake.

“There are many stories to our iwi - a lot of viewpoints - but one of those korero is that lake is a mat that lies on the marae ātea, so the features are telling the story of the weaving together of the waterways to create the lake but more importantly it is about those waterways being the path that carries the mauri of the lands that it traverses.

“It carries the mauri from the places, the histories of those lands and also carries the connection from that hapū, to that hapū, to that hapū throughout the lakes.

“It’s about connecting all the waterways together. I’ve talked about the mauri of the land and the connection of those rivers being the carriers of the connection of our people as one. So we think about that and we come into this place and we go ‘nau mai, haere mai’.