Te Papa welcomes wild kiwi before release into Wellington’s hills
Ten kiwi were welcomed onto the marae at Te Papa in a rare occasion, brought down from South Taranaki to be released into the hills surrounding Wellington.
It was thought to be the first time wild kiwi have been on-site at the national museum, accompanied by their Ngāti Tupaia kaitiaki and welcomed by Wellington mana whenua.
Even the weather had a sense of anticipation with rare humid, heavy air stood still as the pōwhiri began early yesterday morning.
The event at Te Marae was part of transferring the first kiwi from Taranaki Kōhanga Kiwi at Rotokare as part of the Capital Kiwi Project, aiming to restore a wild population of kiwi across 24,000 hectares of mostly private land.
While in previous years, about 20 to 30 kiwi were moved across the North Island, this year, about 300 wll be moved due to an abundance of healthy kiwi at the Rotokare and Maungatautari reserves, Tāne Houston, Ngāti Tupaia chair and Rotokare trustee said.
Taranaki Kōhanga Kiwi at Rotokare was a partnership between Taranaki Kiwi Trust and Rotokare Scenic Reserve Trust.
The kiwi would take the population here to at least 110, where previously they had been extinct in Wellington’s hills.
Capital Kiwi Project founder Paul Ward said the day was about celebrating and acknowledging the people gathered in the crowd who accepted the challenge that kiwi can and should be living in the hills.
“For the first time in around 150 years, we can hear the call of the kiwi at night in the wild ... The mud has been tickled by kiwi beaks for the first time in many many generations,” Ward said.
“We’re in the midst of quite a remarkable change.”
The challenge continued to ensure kiwi could be heard “loud and strong and proud forever”, he said.
Te Papa was a significant space to hold the event, as a repository of symbols and tāonga, representing Aotearoa.
“This is the animal that has gifted us so much of our identity and sense of belonging, yet most people have never seen or heard a kiwi so to actually be involved in restoring that tāonga to the wild is deeply profound.”
As a descendant of Taranaki, receiving tāonga – the kiwi – between iwi, both Ngāti Tupaia and Taranaki Whānui ki te Upoko o te Ika, which shared the same whakapapa connection to Te Aro Pā, near Te Papa, was “phenomenal”, Wellington mayor Tory Whanau said.
“To have it here, at this beautiful marae within Te Papa, but being surrounded by Taranaki iwi was very special for me.”
She was proud of the work being done to set the capital up for “an amazing nature-focused future”.
For Houston, transferring kiwi was not just about rebuilding the population but rebuilding a sense of responsibility and accountability in every person to keep the native natural environment alive.
The kiwi were like a messenger or a signal to the community to ensure people accepted responsibility for the wellbeing of the environment, he said.
“We lose touch with accountability and responsibility ... we live here, if we’re going to maintain this space for ourselves and for our kids and for our grandkids, we can’t just expect that other people are going to continue to fight to keep the
Paul Ward
Capital Kiwi Project founder
“For the first time in around 150 years, we can hear the call of the kiwi at night in the wild ... The mud has been tickled by kiwi beaks for the first time in many many generations.”
natural environment alive.
“If you’re part of Aotearoa New Zealand then every single one of us is responsible.”
The kiwi were released into the wild after the pōwhiri yesterday.