Te Wai Horotiu

Fort Street West, Queen Street, Aotea Square and Aotea Centre, and Myers Park

The Queen Street of today is our ‘golden mile’, a single dominant street slicing through the middle of Auckland’s city centre where business and commerce mingle with retail, hospitality, and a thriving residential population.


The valley on which Queen Street was built was historically known for the local stream, Te Wai Horotiu (the water of Horotiu). It ran down from the Karangahape ridge towards the sea, and still flows beneath Queen Street to this day.


Horotiu is the legendary taniwha (guardian spirit) believed to live in the stream. Te Wai Horotiu was important to local iwi (tribes) providing food, bathing and ceremonial resources, and papakāinga (settlements) were located along the stream.


1.
Wayne Youle (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whakaeke, Pākehā)
Moana-whenua, 2011
Photo by Te Rawhitiroa Bosch
Fort Street, near Jean Batten Place

This artwork lies at the at the site of the original foreshore where the moana (sea) and whenua (land) once met. The 22-meter-long ‘Moana Whenua’ text is carved into the granite of the pavement and embedded with resin and glass aggregate lettering.

In this artwork, Youle has chosen Te Reo Māori (Māori language) to highlight the links between history, place and landscape. Wayne has a bicultural Māori and Pākehā heritage which he likes to reflect in his work.

2.
Fred Graham (Ngāti Korokī Kahukura)
Kaitiaki II, 2009
Photo by Te Rawhitiroa Bosch
80 Queen Street, corner of Shortland Street

Kaitiaki II (guardian) is a sculpture cast in stainless steel which represents a traditional anchor stone and stands guard at one of the most prominent intersections in the city centre.

It stands here to remind us of the site’s significance as the harbour’s original foreshore where once the Waihorotiu river which flowed down Queen Street, met the sea.

The foreshore was significant to Ngāti Whātua and Ngāti Paoa (local tribes) as a waka (canoe) landing site and place of much commerce.

3.
Fred Graham (Ngāti Korokī Kahukura)
Te Waka Taumata o Horotiu, 2008
Photo by Te Rawhitiroa Bosch
Corner Queen Street and Swanson Street

Waka Taumata or resting waka (canoe) is in the form of taurapa (stern post) and tauihu (prow). The tauihu takes the shape of a resting bird; its beak pointing back towards its tail.

Many ancestral canoes lead the settlement of this area – Tainui being the most prominent. Hence the Māori proverb ‘Mōkau ki runga Tāmaki ki raro’ which defines the tribal boundaries of the Tainui canoe. Mōkau in the south referred to as the prow of the canoe, and Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) in the north being the taurapa.

4.
Selwyn Muru (1937-2024)(Ngāpuhi, Te Aupōuri)
Waharoa, 1990
Photo by Te Rawhitiroa Bosch
Aotea Square, 291-297 Queen Street

Waharoa is a seven-meter-tall gateway which stands at the entrance to Aotea Square, transforming it into a marae atea (courtyard of a Māori meeting house). It provides a cultural welcome to manuhiri (visitors) to the square.

5.
Paratene Matchitt (Whānau-a-Apanui, Ngāti Porou)
Untitled, 1990
Photo by Te Rawhitiroa Bosch
Te Pokapū Aotea Centre, The Terrace Cafe, 291-297 Queen Street, Aotea Square

This huge metal and wood sculpture, although untitled, could be summed up by the Māori word manaaki which means hospitality.

The artist’s interpretation of the work is that the powerful pieces of timber at the bottom of the kōwaiwai (mural) represent the people of today, while the stainless-steel forms at the top are their Māori and Pākehā (European people) ancestors.

The large central diamond shape symbolises hospitality. It links the past and present, and contains hearts, moons, stars and crosses which are signature features of Matchitt’s work.

6.
Lisa Reihana (Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi, Ngāi Tū)
Ihi, 2020
Photo by Marlaina Key
Te Pokapū Aotea Centre Foyer, 50 Mayoral Drive, Aotea Square

Ihi explores the mother/son relationship between the gods, Tāne and his mother Papatūānuku, through the separation that brought the world of Te Ao Mārama (light) into existence. ‘In the beginning, Ranginui (sky father) and Papatūānuku (earth mother) were locked in a tight embrace. Their sons and daughters dwelt in the darkness between them. Frustrated by this, their son Tāne decided to use his powerful legs to prise them apart, letting the light in and life to flourish. Tāne then surveys the view he has created - a cosmos of stars and moody brooding skies.

7.
Lisa Reihana (Ngāti Hine, Ngāpuhi, Ngāi Tu)
Rangimārie - Last Dance, 2011
Photo by Te Rawhitiroa Bosch
Q Theatre, 305 Queen Street

This mathematically intensive installation with more than 50,000 tiny pieces was designed to take tāniko (finger weaving) into the third dimension.

It honours the memory of Rangimārie, a noted mid-17th century dancer and choreographer of the Kaipara and Tāmaki Makaurau regions and a descendent of the Te Taoū and Ngā Oho iwi.

Rangimārie is represented by the central red diamond. The black pyramids are symbolic for Kaipara and Tāmaki iwi. The Niho Taniwha triangular pattern is seen in tukutuku (weaving) panels. It means the ‘serpent’s tooth’ and links with the local taniwha (water spirit) and the mauri (life force) of the Waihorotiu stream running below the street.

8.
Te ringatoi matua o te aria (concept lead artist) Graham Tipene (Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Hauā, Ngāti Manu), Te whakaputanga oro (audio production) Justyn Pilbrow (Ngāti Kahu), Ngā kaitito waiata (waiata composers) Tuirina Wehi (Ngāti Ruapani), Moeahi Kerehoma (Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, Te Whakatōhea, Te Whānau-a-Apanui, Tūhoe, Ngāi Takoto, Te Rarawa, Taru mai-i-tawhiti), Kerehoma-Hoani (Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, Te Whakatōhea, Te Whānau-a-Apanui, Tūhoe, Ngāi Takoto, Te Rarawa)
Waimahara, 2024
Photo by David St George
Myers Park underpass, below Mayoral Drive near Greys Avenue

An interactive artwork designed to deepen our connection to place. It describes the memory of water, specifically Te Waihorotiu, the stream flowing beneath the Myers Park underpass to Waitematā Harbour.

Like the stream, this artwork is alive. It responds to the environment, weather and visitors’ presence by changing light patterns and sound.

People can actively engage with this experience by singing two specially written waiata into the sensor. These songs, Waimahara and Waiora, encourage reflection on water consciousness and its significance to human life.

9.
Hone Tūwhare (Ngāpuhi descent with connections to Ngāti Korokoro, Ngāti Tautahi, Te Uri-ō-Hau, Te Popoto, Ngāti Hine and Ngāti Kurī hapū)
Horotiu Haiku, 2017
Photo by Marlaina Key
Myers Park, entry at 381 Queen Street

The Myers Park paddling pool, built in 1915, stood on this site – a popular feature for children. In 2016 the new splash pad was created with care to preserve many of the heritage features.

The splash pad has a poem inscribed in it by Hone Tūwhare, “STOP your snivelling Horotiu, come rain, hail and floodwater, laugh again”. It is about Horotiu the taniwha (water spirit) that lived in the Waihorotiu stream (now buried underground) which had its source at the top of Myers Park gully.