Ka kī te Manu Kōrero / Echoes of Hone TuwharePrint

​​Hone Tuwhare (1922-2008)

Hone Tuwhare (Ngāti Korokoro, Ngāti Tautahi, Te Popoto, Te Uri-O-Hau) remains a national treasure, and stands as one of the most significant Māori literary voices of the twentieth century.

Hone Tuwhare lived in Nelson Street as a child, and attended Campbell’s Kindergarten in the heritage building that still stands today in nearby Victoria Park.

As a tradesman in the 1970's Hone worked as a boilermaker in a workshop along Sale Street.

Hone Tuwhare’s footprints, and now his words, are brought to life again in this place through this project.

Moe mai rā e te Manu kōrero, e Hone, moe mai rā
Rest in peace Hone

'The river is an island' – Hone Tuwhare, 1972
He-motu-te-awa

The Tuwhare whānau has kindly granted this project permission to use one of Hone Tuwhare’s poems, The river is an island, to highlight the memory of the stream that once ran through this site.

The poem, originally written in English by Hone Tuwhare, has been translated into te reo Māori by Waihoroi Hotorene (Ngāti Hine) as part of this project.

The following videos feature the poem in both te reo Māori and english. The two young narrators are both proud descendants of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei. As voices of both place and the future, their renderings of the poem captured on these videos as part of Te Maharatanga o Ngā Wai further affirm the ahi-kā-tanga of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei.

He motu te awaThe river is an island

Watch this video on Vimeo.

Watch this video on Vimeo.

He awa koe. Mai i konei ki kō
tae noa ki te moana e rua kaipana,
kaitōtō i a koe. Rāua te tohe.

Raka te maui raka katau, me pēhea
koe i awa ai mei kore tētahi?

Koia poka a muri. A piko a roto.
Maro ana tō rere, he wā ka tere
hāngai ka torotika tonu atu.

Taha maui te kotui i o puku katanga.
Taha katau piu ana te kaikokoti i o tohe
māngai nui.

He awa koe. Harikoa te tarapeke iho
i te arapiki pounamu: a riri te pōkaia mā
runga papa kohatu.

He wahapu; roto; motu koe kei nga
ringa pūhuka o ngā parenga te
pakanga mou: ka aata tukua koe.

Rere awa, rere. Ki te moana kimi ai
i tō otinga. Pikihia anō kapua; a
maunga – ki a maunga e inumia ai
i te kapu iti.
E, awa

he moana koe: he motu koe.

 


_

You are river. This way and that
and all the way to sea two escorts
shove and pull you. Two escorts
in contention.

Left bank or right bank, how can
you be a river without either?

Thus are U bends made. Thus are
S bends made. Your direction
is assured and sometimes running
perfectly and quite straight.

A low bank on your left holds your
laughing stitches in. On our right
side skips another hushing your
loud protests.

You are river. Joy leaping down
a greenstone stair-way: anger cradled
in a bed of stones.

You’re a harbour; a lake; an island
only when your banks lock lathered
arms in battle to confine you: slow-
release you.

Go river, go. To ocean seek your
certain end. Rise again to cloud;
to a mountain – to a mountain
drinking from a tiny cup.
Ah, river

you are ocean: you are island.

Links to other Hone Tuwhare poems in the city centre

Waharoa (1990): Selwyn Muru (Ngāpuhi, Te Aupōuri)
​Aotea Square, 291-297 Queen Street


Photo credit: Marlaina Key

Waharoa is a seven metre high gateway sculpture which stands at the entrance to Aotea Square, transforming it into a marae ātea (courtyard of a Māori marae / meeting house).

The sculpture provides a cultural welcome to manuhiri (visitors) to the square.

The words of Hone’s haiku poem have been carved by the artist Selwyn Muru into the north-western base of Waharoa, talking directly to Te Waihorotiu, the river that used to run down the Queen Street valley, and which now is lost beneath the city. Read Hone Tuwhare's haiku.

A Māori Figure in a Kaitaka Cloak (1967): Molly Macalister
Corner Quay Street and Lower Queen Street


Photo credit: Marlaina Key

Molly Macalister’s monumental bronze sculpture of a dignified rangatira (chief) clad in a prestigious kaitaka (highly prized cloak) and holding a mere pounamu (traditional weapon) stands at the junction of the City Centre and Waterfront.

Hone’s collection of poetry Sap-wood & milk (1972) contains the poem To A Maori Figure Cast In Bronze Outside The Chief Post Office, Auckland, which carries the voice and captures the plight of the rangatira within the sculpture. Listen to Hone Tuwhare reading his poem.

Learn more about Hone Tuwhare

Hone Tuwhare Charitable Trust

Hone Tuwhare’s Collected Poems: Small Holes in the Silence

Next page

Provide Feedback