Huia

This is a sculpture by Paul Dibble, a New Zealand sculptor of some fame. Highlights of his career include the commission of The New Zealand Hyde Park Corner Memorial in London. I blipped another of his works when I visited Palmerston North in May.

From my reading for this blip, it seems that Dibble has a special connection with the huia, a connection which is shared (by all accounts) by many in his adopted home of Palmerston North. See here.. If interested in knowing more about the huia, here is a further link.

This sculpture is place on the corner of Wellesley Street and Kitchenr Street, directly across Kitchener Street from the Auckland Art Gallery. It seems that a number of Dibble sculptures have featured in this site over the last few years, perhaps associated with an exhibition of his work in the Gallery.

Although I don't pass here regularly it is not that long since I was last past here, and I do not recall seeing it until a week ago when S and I attended a poetry book launch (not her one which had been ten days before that) in the nearby Central Library. The Huia was a marvellous bird, and it is sad that it exists no longer, except in these wonderful bronzes.

The top bird is the male huia, and the lower bird is the female huia. Very different shaped and sized bills.