Works starts on Hawaiki Tūranga sculpture installation in Gisborne

The first part of the Hawaiki Tūranga has begun to go up in Gisborne after it has been delayed since 2018. Gisborne District Council has not provided an updated cost for the project, which was over $600k in 2020. Photo / Gisborne Herald

Work has started on the Hawaiki Tūranga sculpture, with the first arches now looking over the city’s shore after years of planning.

But the project’s exact ratepayer cost is unknown after the council repeatedly failed to provide a figure.

The 6.3m-by-16m sculpture is based on Ruapani, a paramount chief of Tūranganui-a-Kiwa who has a common thread to all tribes of Tairāwhiti.

The sculpture, designed by Matt Randall, has two separate pieces – the main sculpture representing the front of a wharenui and a poutokomanawa (the centre ridge post of a wharenui) representing Ruapani.

It was expected to be finished by the month’s end after an earlier finish date in 2018 was delayed, and contaminated soil was found on the site where a Wattie’s factory used to be.

Installation work began last week at the site in front of the Harbourview Apartments around Customhouse St and the Waikanae Cut, a Gisborne District Council spokeswoman said.

Discussions started in 1998 on using suitable artwork to acknowledge the land’s traditional ownership.

The sculpture was to be finished in 2018 or for the 250th anniversary commemorations in 2019 of the first meetings between Māori and Europeans following the arrival of James Cook at Gisborne.

But much of the area next to where it was being installed had been fenced off since then because asbestos and hydrocarbons had contaminated the soil.

A Wattie’s canning plant was there until 1997.

There were negotiations between the council and Te Runanga o Tūranganui-a-Kiwa and Rongowhakaata Iwi Trust representatives over work to clean and restore the land. This work has now been done.

The project’s total cost, as of the end of the 2020 financial year, was $626,491.39, the council said last year.

This included $400,000 in Government Better Off funding, part of the pool of crown money given to councils under the Three Waters Infrastructure programme to invest in their communities.

This paid for most of the land restoration. The council paid for the rest of the project.

The Gisborne Herald has emailed the council four times since Wednesday last week seeking the latest cost, but this has not been provided.

In terms of cleaning up the land, the hydrocarbon was sent to Hampton Downs while smaller asbestos-contaminated volumes were disposed of at a locally-approved site, according to a council spokeswoman.

Replacement soil came from Cambridge.

A report prepared for a council meeting in March 2023 said the installation would be a prominent and important cultural and social icon within the region.

“It will be an imposing art piece of mixed media (bronze, steel and copper) on the western bank of the Tūranganui River.”

Te Runanga o Turanganui-a-Kiwa was approached for comment.