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Ancient wildlife sculpture

The sculpture trail

One built, one funded, and a proposed layout that is still a draft.

ProposedThe next five over three to five years

On paper. Not yet decided.

A pen-and-ink drawing of two stout-legged moa cut out in silhouette, each with its skeleton drawn inside, photographed on a dark ground.
Stout-legged moa — moa hakahaka.Trish Shirley

Where we are now

One sculpture stands on the Cape and a second is funded and drawn. Beyond those two there is a proposed layout: fifteen sites in all, plus a whale, each with a subject, a size and a fabrication note, all drawn by Trish Shirley from the fossil record. 12 of those positions are on this map, each with its own panel, because the layout says something different about every one of them. They are candidate spots and not decisions.

What it becomes

A walk on which the animals that used to live here stand where they lived, in the order a visitor meets them — the next five over three to five years.

Why this matters

The trail is the argument. A sculpture standing in restored bush makes a different case from one standing in grass, which is why the sculpture programme and the planting programme are the same project.

“A panel depicting birds that are currently absent, but could be returned if we really got the habitat right. Good examples would be kakas, wood pigeons, tuis, bellbirds, saddlebacks, robins, kiwi, weka etc.”

— Trish Shirley, Trish Shirley, who designed the panel

What needs to happen

3 of 5
  • Subjects researched and drawn
  • First sculpture built and installed
  • Second funded, designed and engineered
  • Layout brought up to date with the Council
  • Remaining subjects funded, one at a time
A pen-and-ink cut-out drawing of a pair of eastern moa in silhouette with their skeletons drawn inside.
Eastern moa — moa momona.Trish Shirley
A pen-and-ink cut-out drawing of a little bush moa among foliage, its skeleton drawn inside the silhouette.
Little bush moa — moariki. The smallest moa, about a metre tall.Trish Shirley
A pen-and-ink cut-out drawing of a South Island adzebill beside toetoe, its skeleton drawn inside the silhouette.
South Island adzebill — ngutu hahau. The world’s largest rail.Trish Shirley
A pen-and-ink cut-out drawing of a pair of South Island geese in silhouette with their skeletons drawn inside.
South Island goose — a flightless goose of about 18 kg.Trish Shirley
A pen-and-ink cut-out drawing of two giant black swans with their necks crossed, skeletons drawn inside the silhouettes.
Giant black swans.Trish Shirley
A pen-and-ink drawing of Eyles’ harrier in flight, wings spread, with a second version of the same bird worked with a Māori motif.
Eyles’ harrier — kērangi. Intended to turn into the wind on a pole.Trish Shirley

In deep time

Five moa species lived in this area. Every subject on the trail is an animal that lived here, or in this region, and no longer does — with one exception: the hope panel, which is for the birds that are merely absent.

Connected to

Not a place on the map

This part of the plan is not a piece of ground, so it has no shape on the Cape and nothing here is measured. It keeps its place in the plan and its own page.

Not settled yet

One sculpture stands and a second is funded. Everything beyond those two is a draft layout under review: the positions, and the line-up of subjects, may both change.

See this place on the Cape →