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MakotukutukuAncient Cape Wanbrow
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Sculpture

The sculpture trail

One built, one funded, and a proposed layout for the rest.

ProposedThe next five over three to five years
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 layout: fifteen sites in all, plus a whale, each with a subject and a size, all drawn by Trish Shirley from the fossil record. 12 of those positions are on the map.

What it becomes

A sequence of sculptures along the tracks, walked end to end.

Why it is in the plan

The trail is what draws visitors past the lookout and through the planting.

“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, who designed the sculptures, 2025

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 and no longer does, except the hope panel, which is for birds that are absent rather than extinct.

Connected to

Not settled yet

The layout beyond the first two is a draft. The positions, and the line-up of animals, may both change.

See this place on the Cape →