Swamp kauri unearthed at Auckland construction site to be donated to carvers

Friday, 3 May 2019

More than 20 swamp kauri pieces will be donated to expert wood carvers after being unearthed at a retail store construction zone.

The wood was found at a construction site in Henderson, West Auckland, during work on new furniture store Nido.

Swamp kauri are prehistoric kauri trees which can be buried for 800 to 50,000 years under peat swamps in the North Island - pre-dating the last Ice Age.

Discovered four metres deep, the wood has been sealed in a chemically balanced environment that will keep the timber preserved.

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The find will be donated to carvers and students at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa Māngere, in south Auckland, where it will be made into pou whenua by Troy Hart-Webber, an expert wood carver.

Assistant site manager Lisa Wade was the first to realise the significance of the find.

She said the trees appeared to have been blown over in a storm and were facing the same direction - which has cultural significance.

'Tāne Mahuta - the Māori god of forests and of birds was said to be made of kauri making this taonga particularly precious to the Māori people.'

The swamp kauri was excavated from the site of the future furniture and homeware store, loaded onto trucks and delivered to the recipients in Māngere on Friday afternoon.

The total amount of swamp kauri measures seven metres long.