Tomokanga celebrates Kaitāia’s western wetland

A large crowd gathered in the early hours of the morning of Saturday 12th November, to unveil the tomokanga (gateway) to the area surrounding Tangonge at Redan Road in Kaitāia.

Tangonge a former lake and wetland system adjacent to the Awanui River that provided abundant kai (food) resources and was one of the largest swamp gardens in the country covering an area of about 15 square kilometres.

The multi-pou artwork, which overlooks Tangonge, is located on the west side of Kaitāia on the way west to Pukepoto and Ahipara. It features manu (birds), taro leaves (from which Tangonge gets its name), a sail representing voyaging waka, the design on the sail taken from tāniko on old kapa haka bodices from Pukepoto school. With a whatarangi depicting the abundance of kai in Kaitāia.

The carvings have more detail behind each pou including the carved wahine with her kete basket remembering the beautifully made-up women who gave the small village that once stood below its name “Hollywood”, as they looked as beautiful as the Hollywood movie stars.

Other carvings on the pou represent tuna that were once abundant in the area, while various whakairo patterns represent growth, aspirations and the four winds that help shape us and brought us to these lands.

Waikarere Gregory and Stan Young led the creation of the tomokanga, assisted by a team of four talented artists, Natanahira Te Pona, Ngaroma Riley, Benjai Gregory and Rosaleen O’Connor who worked on the artwork for 18 months.

The gateway is part of the Te Hiku Open Spaces Revitalisation Project that has commissioned and installed a range of cultural artworks at the entrances to several Te Hiku townships.

You can read more about the Te Hiku Revitalisation Project here.

PHOTO CREDIT: NAOMI AUSTEN-REID