Te Waka Pou, 2007

Another sculpture in Wellington.

The sculptor is Ra Vincent, who is of Te Atiawa. He described his work in this way:

This pou (pillars or posts) signifies the migration and arrival of Maori and Pakeha to Aotearoa (New Zealand). The stone in which the pou is set was sourced from Taranaki.

I have done a little research about Te Atiawa, and include this below (edited slightly)

Te Atiawa stem from Toi-kai-rakau, the wood eater. Toi was the progenitor of many tribes occupying a considerable stretch of country, eight generations before the waka migrations of the 14th Century. Soon after arrival with his people, Toi established a Pa (fortified village) at Whakatane. His descendants moved further afield, establishing a number of familial branches.

One of Toi's sons, Ruarangi, married Rongoueroa. She was the mother of Awanuiarangi, the eponymous ancestor of Te Atiawa. According to the tradition, the father of Awanuiarangi was Tamarau-Te-Heketanga-A-Rangi (Tamarau), a whatukura or heavenly guardian from the tenth heaven. A child of Ranginui and Papatuanuku, Tamarau came down from the heavens after seeing Rongoueroa bathing in a stream. He took on the form of a man and embraced her. From their union Awanuiarangi was born, and from her came the multitudes; Te Tino o Awanuiarangi. They grew strong and settled principally at Taranaki and Whakatane.

The Awa peoples occupied Taranaki for many generations. Te Atiawa is sometimes referred to as the Awa tribes, or Ngatiawa.

This is a brief statement of Ra Vincent's Whakapapa (lineage), and establishes his importance in the production of a work to commemorate arrivals in this land of ours of the ancestors of the many peoples who make up our nation. Joining the two pou (each symbolising one of the dominant migrations in the shape of a waka (canoe/boat) are pieces of iron shaped in traditional Maori form. The whole symbolising the joining into one while remaining separate in the origins.