These carvings protect a sacred tōtara (native tree) planted in 1940 by Princess/Dame Te Kirihaehae Te Puea Hērangi (Tainui tribe), a central figure in establishing the Kīngitanga movement. The Princess (1883–1952) was the great granddaughter of Pōtatau Te Wherowhero the first Māori King (Waikato, Ngāti Mahuta). The Domain has special significance for the Kīngitanga (the Māori King Movement) as Te Wherowhero once lived there.
The figures in the carvings depict the children of Ranginui and Papatūānuku (the nation’s first parents).
Graham’s Kaitiaki (Guardian) sculpture, made of steel plate, is a black hawk looming large over the Domain. The kāhu pōkere (black hawk) is a kaitiaki (guardian) that features in the oral histories of Ngāti Whātua.
In Māori lore, manu (birds) were the tangata whenua (first inhabitants) of the land of Aotearoa (New Zealand). Kaitiaki looks across to a small scoria cone west of the museum, the site of the Pukekaroa Carved Ancestors.
Whaowhia - the two granite urns – one white and one black – represent pātaka mātauranga (knowledge storehouses). They reflect the museum’s role as preserver and protector of the nation’s taonga (cultural treasures).
Each urn is decorated with carvings symbolising objects held in the museum. At night each urn emits a shaft of light to acknowledge the role of the museum as a war memorial and place of learning.
The artist has used layer upon layer of stone to symbolise the museum’s Māori title Paenga Hira, which refers to the Ngāti Whātua practice of marking boundaries with basalt mounds.
The Museum is guardian of an outstanding collection of Māori taonga (treasures) with more than 1000 displayed in the Māori galleries: He Taonga Māori (Māori Court) and Te Ao Tūroa (Māori Natural History).
These taonga are the ancestral representations of all the major tribes and provide descendants with tangible links to their ancestors and their histories. They embody spiritual power measured in terms of mana (ancestral authority), tapu (restriction from everyday being) and kōrero (narratives).
The museum’s Māori name translates as Tāmaki (Auckland), the net of Maki. Paenga, to layout ceremonially and a reference to those fallen in battle. Hira means abundant, of consequence.