The symbolic kohatu [rock] now atop Mount Parihaka was given the royal treatment when it was airlifted in, shrouded from public view and assigned its own personal security guard overnight.
The one-tonne kohatu is the centrepiece and finishing touch on a new $218,000 lookout Whangarei District Council has installed at the historic site.
Master carver Te Warihi Hetaraka crafted the kohatu and said it was symbolic of the mountain being restored to its proper name, Parihaka, following many years of the mis-pronounced "Parahaki".
In 2003 Whangarei hapu agreed the correct name for the maunga was Parihaka. The following year WDC sent a request to the New Zealand Geographic Board asking the name be reinstated, which it was in September 2005.
"We likened the return of Parihaka to a cloak being wrapped around the mountain, that's all I can say at the moment," Mr Hetaraka said, ahead of the kohatu's official unveiling on February 20.