Rotorua sculptor George Andrews has agreed to recreate a bronze statue of the city’s beloved stray dog Harawene.
The original plaster moulds used to create the now-missing Harawene memorial have been pulled out of storage and dusted off after 15 years, and Andrews had been put in contact with an Auckland farmer who has offered to fund the replica.
Alan Cato made the offer after being moved by the Rotorua Daily Post article this week about the statue going missing, presumed stolen, after it was cut off from its stand at the paws.
He has agreed to pay up to $10,000 towards the cost of putting the statue back on the side of Te Ngae Rd, part of State Highway 30 on the eastern outskirts of Rotorua.
It’s suspected the original statue of the adored terrier cross was taken sometime during the past week.
For 15 years, the life-sized memorial stood on a large rock in an area Harawene used to roam beside Te Ngae Rd opposite Robinson Ave.
Now only a plaque and two small paws remain on the rock.
The Rotorua Daily Post was with Andrews and Fiona Cairns, who instigated the fundraising for the original statue, today when they dug the plaster moulds out of storage at the Rotorua Casa Blanca Threatre.
The moulds were found on a top shelf carefully packed in three banana boxes and labelled: “This belongs to the people of Rotorua”.
Cairns said the original sculptor, the late Fridtjof Hanson from Taranaki, had agreed to leave her the moulds in case they were ever needed again.
She said one of her fundraising committee members was connected to the theatre and it seemed like a good place to store the boxes safely.
Andrews, an expert in working with bronze, said the moulds were excellent and he would be able to work with them.
“I would like to do it and I’d be pleased to be involved with it.”
The plaster-of-Paris moulds would need to be pieced together and other preparations made before the hot bronze could be poured into the entire mould.
He estimated it could be several months’ work but the job was a lot simpler with the moulds ready to go.
Cato said he was thrilled the moulds had been found and looked forward to liaising with Andrews during the coming weeks.
“We could have been stopped dead in our tracks if we didn’t have them [the moulds] in their entirety,” Cato said.
Cairns said there was always the risk the statue could be stolen again but she hoped that wouldn’t happen.
“People have said, ‘why don’t you put a cage around it to stop people getting in?’ but Harawene was never confined so why would you do it now.”
She said she was relieved to find the moulds were still in good condition.
“I was worried we’d open up the boxes and it would just be dust.”
Andrews is currently finishing fixing the bronze bust of Camille Malfroy that was torn from its stand at Rotorua’s Government Gardens in February last year.
The 70cm-high bust weighing 70kg, unveiled in 2007, was recovered by police a month later.
Andrews said at the time that he was “delighted” to see the artwork again and while the head and face were in reasonably good condition, it would be “quite a bit of work to repair it”.
Andrews told the Rotorua Daily Post today he did not believe the disappearances of the two statues were linked but it was possible there was a false impression they would fetch good money from a scrap metal dealer.
A Rotorua dealer said this week bronze sold for $8 a kilogram.
Harawene, however, was hollow and was only bronze on the exterior.
Andrews said there was always a possibility the publicity surrounding the stolen statue of Harawene could help lead to its whereabouts.
He said it would be several weeks before he could start work on the replica and it would be ideal if the original was found.
Rotorua Daily Post readers commenting on Facebook have praised Cato’s offer.
One described it as an “awesome gesture”.
“I lived past the airport as a kid and would drive past Harawene every day, she was an icon that you saw every day it was very sad when she died, be nice to have the statue back as she meant a lot to many people.”
Another reader said it took a kind person to erase what the “miserable louse” had done in stealing the statue.
“The lesson an independent little hound dog taught about social unity and bringing people from all walks of life together should always be remembered. Never forgotten.”
Another said it was a pity the thief did not appreciate what Harawene meant to Rotorua.
Harawene would not let anyone approach her but locals still took her food daily and she became famous simply for being on the side of the road.
There was an outpouring of emotion after Harawene was presumably run over in April 2008.
A fundraising committee raised $10,000 for a memorial statue to be made and it was unveiled on the Ngāti Whakaue Tribal Lands site just over a year after her disappearance.
A plaque describes the statue as a “memorial of affection” to Harawene, “a treasured pet of the people of Rotorua”.
Cato said Harawene’s story almost brought him to tears.
“We are dog lovers and we have a lot of history with Rotorua,” he told the Rotorua Daily Post earlier this week.
Cato said he used to holiday in Rotorua with his family and would take his two sons trout fishing.
“One way or another I will pay the price up to $10,000.
“She has to go back to where she belongs … The dog had a right to live on in our memories and it’s not appropriate for someone to nick it.”
Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.