Sculpture
Moa waewae taumaha
The heavy-footed moa. Installed at the bottom car park, November 2025.
Where we are now
In place, and blessed on 28 November 2025 at the Test Street car park at the foot of the walking track: a weathering-steel silhouette with the bird’s skeleton profile-cut from polished stainless and stood off the surface, alongside a steel cabbage tree. Designed by Trish Shirley from the fossil record, built by Apex Engineering, signage by Anna McLean, funded through the Council’s Better Off funding.
What it becomes
The first of a series along the Cape.
Why it is in the plan
The bottom car park is where the walking track starts, and this is the first sculpture on it.
“The holotype for this bird was found near the mouth of Awamoa Creek, it’s really Oamaru’s bird. … This moa made headlines around the world, and was considered a sensation in the 1800’s.”
What needs to happen
4 of 4- Designed from the fossil record
- Funded
- Built and installed
- Signage written and installed
In deep time
Pachyornis elephantopus. An enormously hefty bird with huge feet and legs and a small head with an oddly down-curved beak — and the first moa ever described.