Nga Whakairo Tupuna

Public Art: Nga Whakairo Tupuna

Master Carver (tohunga whakairo): © Tene Waitere (c.1853-1931)

Date Unveiled: The Ancestral carvings were unveiled in 1907.

Description: Bright red Maori carvings

Location: The ancestral carvings can be found near the Prince’s Gate Archway at the Hinemoa and Arawa Street entrances of the Government Gardens, Rotorua, New Zealand.

Plaque :

Nga Whakairo Tupuna (Ancestral Carvings) at the Hinemoa and Arawa Street entrances to the gardens.

The totara carvings that greet you as you enter the Government Gardens were presented by the people of Ngati Whakaue to commemorate their original gift of this land in 1880 ‘hei oranga mo nga iwi katoa o te ao- for the benefit of the people of the world’ Created by tohunga whakairo (master carver) Tene Waitere in 1907, they depict koromatua (tribal ancestors),
and act as kaitaki (guardians) of the area. They were restored in 1997.

Trivia: 

Tene Waitere was trained as a carver by Wero Taroi, the master carver of the Ngati Tarawhai school.

Tene’s mother Ani Pape, who was the daughter of a prominent Ngati Tarawhai leader, was captured during the Nga Puhi attack on Rotorua in 1823 and taken as a slave to Auckland where she was forced to marry Waitere.

Tene and his family survived the 1886 Tarawera volcanic eruption which buried their Maori village of Te Wairoa by sheltering in the famous carved house, Hinemihi.