The artwork, Mana Motuhake, was commissioned for Victoria Square and created by Ngāi Tahu master carver Fayne Robinson.
Featuring two upright waka sculptures 4.75 metres high, the artwork is designed to complement the existing statue of Queen Victoria and emphasise the partnership between the Crown and Ngāi Tahu as Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Treaty of Waitangi) signatories. For many years, the statue of Queen Victoria was the only recognition of the treaty relationship between the Crown and Ngāi Tūāhuriri (manawhenua of this place). With the installation of Mana Motuhake, the treaty partner relationship is better acknowledged.
The two waka are the same design and each have three ancestors represented inside who are all to do with the signatories of Kemps Deed (the document of the Crown purchase of 13,551,400 acres of Canterbury land for £2,000 from a group of Ngāi Tahu chiefs in 1848). Fayne Robinson explains...
"I've tried to do is connect the eyes of Queen Victoria to the eyes of the ancestors that were used inside the waka, looking in the same direction, fixated on the same point so we're all sort of working on the same kaupapa, being one."
Other parts of the carving speak to significance, direction of movement, food gathering, work in the rivers and the landscape of a trading post. The sovereignty flag that was used back in that time is also included, representing Tino Rangatiratanga and the identity of Māori which was lost in society.
Inlayed in the paving at the entrance to Victoria Square, in front of the Queen Victoria statue is a Pepeha, which is an extract from Kemps Deed...
Ko ō mātou kāinga nohoanga,
ko ā mātou mahinga kai,
me waiho mārie mō ā mātou tamariki,
mō muri iho i a mātou.
This translates to: “Our places of residence, cultivations and food gathering places must still be left to us, for ourselves and our children after us”.
The pepeha speaks to what this place was to Māori and reminds us of the breaches to Te Tiriti o Waitangi at the time - breaches which would take over 170 years to resolve.
Mana Motuhake is a celebration and reflection of our shared cultural heritage.
https://newsline.ccc.govt.nz/news/story/tribute-to-treaty-rises-in-christchurchs-victoria-square