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Civic Centre Foyer Tomokanga

A LOCAL STORY IS DEPICTED IN THIS CIVIC CENTRE CARVING

Artist: Members of the Rangimarie Arts and Crafts Society, under the supervision of Brian Topless

Meeting room foyer entrance, Civic Centre, Liardet St, New Plymouth.

The tomokanga (carving) depicts a local story featuring the beautiful Urukinaki.

The principal chief of Parihamore, a pa of Ngati-tu-parikino hapu (behind the Western Institute of Technology), was Whakamoumourangi. At that time (about 1700-1740) Parihamore had two possessions which made it the subject of considerable local discussion. One was the titoki (Alectryon excelsus), of renown because of its abundant crop of berries, the sweet scented oil from which was used as perfume. The second was the daughter of Kahu-taiaroa, Urukinaki, whose beauty was the pride of the tribe and object of considerable attention from the local young men.

Such was the fame of Urukinaki that Potaka, of Ngapuketurua (near Sentry Hill), determined to claim her as his wife and with an appropriately large taua (force) to ensure his suit was well-considered he advanced on Parihamore and laid siege to the pa. After some time, food supplies in the besieged pa began to run out; the demands of Potaka for Urukinaki were agreed to and he returned to his land with is new wife.

This carving about the doorway to the Civic Centre's meeting rooms represents the individuals involved in this incident. In the centre is Urukinaki, flanked on the left by her father Kahu-taiaroa and on the right by her suitor Potaka. The end figures represent Whakamoumourangi (on the left) and the ancestor of the hapu Tu Pari Kino (on the right). The symbolised Parihamore titoki surrounds Urukinaki.

The figures on the panel to the left of the door represent Poharama Te Whiti of Moturoa (top) and the ancestor of his people Ruaroa (lower). The figures on the right-hand panel represent Richard Barrett (top) with his daughters Caroline and Sarah, and Frederick Alonzo Carrington (lower) the surveyor for the Plymouth Company who planned the town of New Plymouth in 1841.
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