16
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AOTEAROA
The smallest pou,
at Opoututeka
(Cox’s Bay, Westmere) would be
around 12m tall.
The pou on Maungawhau (Mt Eden)
to be proportional
to the obelisk on
Maungakiekie (One
Tree Hill) attempting
to a bring balance
to these maunga.
the underlying premise of the
prophecy can be interpreted as
an invitation to the coloniser
to share the land with tangata
whenua, further, that the colonial
capital of Auckland was established under the influence of this
prophecy. The historical narrative
derived from it was developed into
a set of design moves to create
four monuments that honor the
pre and post-colonial history of
Auckland.
Just prior to Cook’s arrival, the
prophecy of Titahi told of a ‘nautilus shell’ coming to these shores,
which represented the sails of
the European ships, and a ‘pou
whakairo’ or new sovereignty being established in the Waitematā.
This prophecy was a key factor in
the consideration of Ngāti Whātua
and Apihai Te Kawau inviting Lieutenant Governor William Hobson
to Tamaki in 1840, and the offer of
a land gift for the establishment
of a new capital for Aotearoa. The
sites that formed the boundary
markers of the new British colony
were my first 3 sites for design:
Opoututeka (Cox’s Bay, Westmere),
Maungawhau (Mt Eden) and an
extension of the axis through the
Hobson Bay boundary marker to
Takaparawhau (Bastion Point) - the
tūrangawaewae of Ngāti Whātua.
The 4th site chosen connects
to where the colonisers erected their flagstaff on Te Rerenga
Oraiti (Point Britomart, now Quay
Street). That ‘pou’ was considered
by local iwi to be the ‘literal’ fulfilment of the Titahi prophecy and
the location became the epicenter
of colonial power in Aotearoa.
DESIGN DISCUSSION
The main element incorporated
in the landscape interventions is
siting of pou. During the course of
the interviews I was challenged to
re-evaluate my perception of what
pou are. From this emerged a redefining of the traditional function