The Challenge of Pou Kapūa

Chosen by Pou Kapūa –Commissioned by our Tūpuna –It is our destiny to be here.

One weekend in February 2002, Wikuki Kingi Jnr, Master Carver and Manager of Māori Health Services, and Tania Haerekiterā Wolfgramm, designer of Te Reo Māori/English Computer Keyboard and Cultural Psychologist, read about the Waterfront Advisory Group. This group, largely influenced by overseas architects and consultants, and supported by local government, were recommending, as part of their plan, that twin fountains, fashioned in the style of the ‘Pillars of Hercules’, be built in the middle of Auckland’s harbour, to provide a dramatic entrance for the mega-yachts as they arrive.

Wikuki Jnr and Tania realised that once again, with New Zealand holding the America’s Cup yacht racing regatta, much attention is given to affluent persons and symbols of their material wealth. Little attention is paid to the rich culture of Māori, the tangata whenua of Aotearoa; of our Pacific people’s cultures or those of other ethnic and cultural groups of our nation. They were both distressed and disturbed by the recommendation that the ‘Pillars of Hercules’, a symbol (two strokes in the dollar sign) of money and of foreign cultures should dominate our harbour entrance. They believed that they must challenge this outrageous and untenable proposition.

For almost two hundred years, through processes of foreign domination and assimilation, many of the taonga of the tangata whenua of Aotearoa, such as Te Reo, Raranga and Whakairo have been denigrated, suppressed or lost. Therefore, Wikuki Jnr, with Tania’s assistance, knowing that they would be supported by their whanau, marae and people, decided to help with the creation of a large, significant Māori Taonga, the Pou Kapūa.

The challenge of Pou Kapūa

“It was quite daunting...for two people to get off the ground ...There was no money. The task was to find everything” (Wikuki Kingi Jnr).

However, with a great deal of determination and hard work from everyone involved Pou Kapūa is now a reality.

Pou Kapua is carved from magnificent ancient Kauri from the forests of the Iwi of Te Rarawa. Other materials it is sculpted from include totara, steel and 50,000 year old swamp kauri. Standing on each side of Pou Kapua are two moai (over 3 tonnes each) carved by expert sculptors from Rapanui/Easter Island. Pou Kapua is adorned with paua, pounamu, bone and crystal.

Weighing over thirty tonnes and reaching more than seventy feet high Pou Kapua now stands at the TelstraClear Pacific Events Centre, in Manukau, Auckland. At this time, it is the largest Pou ever to be carved in Aotearoa, the tallest Māori carving in the world.

This Taonga is a symbol and icon that can serve to regain some of what has been lost and to show our people, from our Tamariki to our old kaumātua the beauty that we have inside us; to strengthen our mana and to reveal important aspects of our cultural heritage in a positive and powerful way.