Doug Laing
The sight of a young schoolboy beside a beached whale last year was enough to convince Haumoana kaumatua Darkie Unahi where the jawbone of the dying animal would go after it was salvaged.
And today the whale tale had another chapter as 10-year-old Te Ao Marama Tomoana sat beside the
4.5m jaw on Waipatu Marae.
With him were his niece, Israel Tomoana, and cousin Grace Ropitini, listening as elders, including dad Ngahiwi Tomoana, talked about the whale whose jawbone had just been brought onto the marae near Hastings, and the tradition involving the whale and hapu Ngati Hawea dating back to the 1700s.
The huge lower jaw comes from a 60-tonne bull whale, estimated to have been about 50 years old when it beached at Clive in February.
After the carcass was released by the Department of Conservation, the jaw was cut out under the guidance of DOC officer Hans Rook.
Henare Stretch, of Matamau, also worked on salvaging and restoring the bone and told of the emotional moments he had had with stranded whales, dating back to his first experience at Kaikoura where he grew up, the son of a whaler, and saw the bones taken to his home marae, Mangamanu.
A whale jawbone has been at Matahiwi Marae, Clive, for more than 10 years, and Mr Unahi said other marae had wanted the latest bone - "but they'll have to wait."
