Hawaiki Turanga sculpture to be installed in 2025 after long delay

The long-planned Hawaiki Turanga sculpture may finally be installed in early 2025 next to Waikanae Creek. There were originally plans to complete the project in 2018 or 2019. Photo / Wynsley Wrigley

The long-running saga of the Hawaiki Turanga sculpture appears to be coming to an end.

The sculpture, originally scheduled to be erected in 2018 or for the sester-centennial commemorations in 2019, will be installed in early 2025, says Gisborne District Council team leader of liveable spaces assets, Natalie Waihi.

The location on the former Wattie’s site in front of the Harbourview apartments has been fenced off to the public for five years because of the presence of asbestos and hydrocarbons, and ongoing negotiations between the council and representatives of Te Runanga o Turanganui-a-Kiwa and Rongowhakaata Iwi Trust over remediation.

Remediation has been completed and the project partners are due to meet to plan the installation process.

Government Better Off funding provided as part of the original Three Waters policy of $400,000 paid for most of the remediation, with the council paying for the remainder.

The cost of the entire project from 2020 is $626,491.39, with the project ongoing.

The spend-to-date figure does not include a contribution to the creation of the sculpture.

Council chief executive Nedine Thatcher Swann told the Herald a council contribution of $100,000 towards the cost of the sculpture had not been “picked up” before 2020.

The removed hydrocarbon-contaminated soil was disposed of in Hampton Downs at an approved site, while smaller asbestos-contaminated volumes were disposed of at a local site. The new fill came from Cambridge.

Waihi said local fill did not meet the approved standard, was not from an approved receiving site, could not provide the required volume and was not cost-effective.

Discussions started in 1998 on using suitable artwork to acknowledge traditional ownership of the land under “the Watties Accord”.

A contract to create a Hawaiki Turanga sculpture was awarded in 2011.

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

The sculpture 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.

The council will cover the costs of landscaping around the sculpture and its ongoing maintenance.