Home sought for 'extraordinary' waka of international significance

Friday, 14 February 2025

An ‘extraordinary’ 700-year-old waka of international significance, currently drying in a shed in Golden Bay, will soon need a new home.

The Anaweka waka, discovered on the West Coast 13 years ago by a schoolboy on a family picnic, is one of only two examples of voyaging canoe left in the Pacific.

Since it was uncovered, the waka has spent a dozen years in a treatment solution in a shed in Tākaka, monitored by Auckland University conservators.

Last February, drying of the 6m long piece of New Zealand matai started, a process that’s expected to be finished around November this year - and once done, the waka will need a place to rest.

The carved relief of a turtle adorns the outside rear of the Anaweka Waka, which archaeologists believe is symbolic of its connection with tropical East Polynesia.

Ngāti Tama ki Te Waipounamu Trust general manager of business and operations Jenna Neame said the waka’s current home didn’t uphold its mana or allow people to connect to it.

In a Tasman District Council meeting on Thursday, a preliminary plan was put forward for a wharewaka, a purpose built facility to house the treasure on parkland next to the Golden Bay Museum.

Neame shared renderings of what the wharewaka could potentially look like, featuring an oculus, or an opening, in the ceiling for the waka to connect to the sky.

Whānau didn’t want the waka to be housed in a “glass coffin”, Neame said.

Situated on the corner of Rielly and Commercial streets in Tākaka, the building could create a “precinct” bringing the two buildings together.

The Nicholls family of Tākaka were out on a 4WD beach picnic in January 2012 when 12-year old Flynn spotted an unusual piece of wood protruding from a freshly eroded bank of sand. The whole family excitedly got involved, digging out the 6.08 metre-long waka section and taking it back to Tākaka. It would be identified as one of only two voyaging canoes in existence, dating back to the early occupation of Polynesia.

Neame stressed there was still a lot of water to go under the bridge, but asked for “indicative support” from the council in using a council piece of land adjoined to a council building.

“If you’re not on board now, we don’t want to waste our precious time and resources,” she told councillors, adding that no funds were requested from the council for the project.

As the waka was found in Mohua (Golden Bay), the intention was for it to remain there, respecting its mana, its need for climate control, and the people with connection to it, she said.

Chris Hill, from Manawhenua Ki Mohua, said the waka was an “incredibly significant” double hull, ocean going vessel that had been described by one museum chief executive as “the most important artefact in New Zealand”.

The waka was found near the mouth of Anaweka Estuary in Golden Bay.

Manawhenua Ki Mohua are kaitiaki (guardians) of the waka, and provide day to day care, while four iwi trusts, Ngāti Tama, Ngāti Rārua, Ngāti Kuia, and Te Ātiawa are claimants.

Carbon dating placed the waka between 1226 and 1280, a period of history that was within a generation of the people of the Wairau Bar, the first people known to arrive in New Zealand, Hill said.

Associated with the waka was the mātauranga (traditional knowledge) “around celestial navigation, waka building, and waka voyaging”.

“Not many people look at Māori folk and go ‘Oh, are you from the sailors?’ I don't think that happens so much, but we certainly are. And one of the extraordinary things about this piece is that there's no physical evidence of those voyaging waka anywhere. This is it, essentially.”

A piece in Huahine, in the Society Islands in French Polynesia, showed similar workings, Hill said.

A turtle relief is carved on the rear of the waka. Rare in Māori carving, archaeologists believe it relates to the early age of the canoe and its cultural associations with tropical East Polynesia.

Unesco World Heritage status is being sought for the waka, which if successful would mean it was one of only four objects or sites in the country to receive the designation.