Paua (Haliotis Iris).

The largest, commonest and best known of our New Zealand species. The shellfish is black and the interior of the shell has cloudy waves of rainbow colours with blues, purples and green being dominant. The shells were used by the Maori to add a gleam of life to the eyes in their carved figures. Today we process them into attractive jewellery and gifts that are immediately recognisable as New Zealand treasures. Is related to the Abalone shell fish predominantly found in the northern hemisphere.

Kupe Statue.
The imposing bronze Kupe Group Statue, occupying pride of place on Taranaki Street Wharf, was originally designed in 1939 by Christchurch sculptor William Threthewey for the 1940 New Zealand Centennial Exhibition held at Rongotai, Wellington. 

It was originally created in plaster and finished with bronze paint.  Following the exhibition, the statue sat for 40 years at the Wellington Railway Station and ten at the Wellington Show and Sports Centre before being stored at the Te Papa, the national museum in 1997, as a national treasure.  Subsequently, the Kupe Group Trust successfully fundraised to have the statue cast in bronze and given a permanent location on the waterfront in 2000.

The sculpture features Kupe Raiatea, the great Maori explorer and discoverer of Wellington harbour, his wife Te Aparangi and tohunga Pekahourangi.

Harakeke and wharariki Harakeke (flax) and wharariki (mountain flax) were the main plants used for weaving. Their tough, sword-shaped leaves were woven into kete (baskets), sails, tukutuku panels and fishing nets. Muka, the prepared fibre of flax, was made into cord for tying adzes, fences, houses and canoes. A poultice made from flax leaves disinfected wounds. Nectar or wai kōrari from the flowers was sometimes added to food as a sweetener, or made into a refreshing drink.

In Māori sayings and songs flax is often a metaphor for family bonds and human relationships. It is also a national emblem, and is used in logos for local and government organisations. Although flax has been exported, it is a plant that many New Zealanders associate strongly with their homeland. New Zealand flax is one of the country’s most distinctive native plants. It has sword-shaped leaves 1–3 metres long that grow in a fan shape. In spring, birds – particularly tūī – flock to feed on the nectar of its tube-like flowers, which bloom on stems up to 4.5 metres long. By carrying pollen from plant to plant, the birds help flax to produce seeds in long pods.
(http://www.teara.govt.nz)

Koru (Life, growth, movement).
The koru shape is a scroll shape and is linked to the New Zealand fern plant. The shoot of the fern has a curled-over tip, which unfurls and becomes a fern leaf. The koru reaches towards the light, striving for perfection, encouraging new positive beginnings. The koru represents the unfolding of new life, that everything is reborn and continues. It represents renewal and hope for the future. Spiral, geometry of life, sacred creation.

Waka, The canoe (waka in Māori) relates to the arrival in Aotearoa/ New Zealand of Māori ancestors from a place most often referred to as Hawaiki. Canoe traditions became important to the identity of Māori. Whakapapa (genealogical links) back to the crew of founding canoes served to establish the origins of tribes, and defined relationships with other tribes. When identifying themselves on a marae, people mention their waka first and foremost. So canoe traditions also express authority and identity, and define tribal boundaries and relationships.

Tane Mahuta, Also known as the lord of the forest, this giant kauri tree is approximately 1400 years old and is one of the largest trees in the world at 51m tall, with a girth of over 13m. This indigenous tree has so much cultural, historical and environmental significance to many New Zealanders that other kauri trees are now being planted annually to mark Tane Mahuta Day by residents of the far north of New Zealand.

Tāne and his forests. (http://www.teara.govt.nz)
When the ancestors of Māori arrived in New Zealand, they found it was very different from their Polynesian homeland. They had been primarily seafaring people, but on these larger, colder islands, they also needed to know about the bush. Understanding the forest was vital to life. As Māori explored and learnt about the forests, Tāne, the god of the forest, found an important place in tribal consciousness and traditions. People developed a reverence for and knowledge of te waonui-a-Tāne – the great forest of Tāne. Tāne is a figure of great importance in tribal traditions. Tāne separated earth and sky and brought this world into being; he fashioned the first human; he adorned the heavens, and brought the baskets of knowledge, wisdom and understanding down from the sky to human beings. 

Tapa Cloth, made of bark of the mulberry tree. The bark is stripped off and pounded flat in such a way that it spreads into a cloth. The tapa cloth is dried and bleached by the sun and the pieces are pasted together with an arrowroot paste. Also needed is the sap of a tree. The clay is dried and powdered and mixed with the sap. Then it is used for a brownish dye. The black dye is made of the shoots of a coconut tree. The cloth is usually made into square or oblong shapes. The designs are created by placing the cloth over a carved wooden block, the block is carved with a  design, and the design is created on the tapa cloth by rubbing the dyes over it. The patterns represent various aspects of the Island way of life and are usually black with shades of rust/brown.

Pounamu.
The Maori word for greenstone is pounamu. They call the South Island of New Zealand on the east side Te Wai Pounamu, meaning "The land of Greenstone Water". Greenstone is highly valued by the Maori and it plays an important role in their culture. It is considered a taonga or treasure, and so is protected under the Treaty of Waitangi. The Maori club, the mere, was often made of greenstone. Greenstone artefacts were often given as gifts to seal important agreements. Jewellery is still produced much of this is in traditional Māori designs.

Tangaroa is the Maori Guardian of the ocean, traditionally known for his power and protection over the oceans and the seas. Tangaroa is one of the children of Ranginui (the Sky Father) and Papatuanuku (the Earth Mother).

Kina (Evechinus chloroticus)
Other names: kina ariki, kin koorako, puurau (Maori), sea urchin, sea egg, Oursin de Nouvelle-Zelande (France).  A common sea urchin found in sub-tidal groves of seaweed and pools and crevices of the shore where they are found with a curious mass of bristling spines. Beneath this is the shell, the 'bumps' of which are all that remain of the spikes. <o:p>

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