A woman would put her cloak on a soldier – that meant peace – no one was to touch him.
no one was to touch him,’’ Nicholas said.
Other nations also wanted to place their own memorials in the park and Nicholas realised the cloak would also symbolise welcome.
Hutt metal craftsman Brett Rangitaawa cast the bronze and also provided technical advice on its design.
The motif of cloaked women has been a recurring theme throughout Nicholas’ work.
It was inspired by his childhood memories of his mother back in the Waitara Marae, where he was raised. ‘‘ Because I was the youngest I would sit with my brother behind my mother. She would always give the kairangi. I was always sitting behind her, so that was how she always appeared to me.’’
The top of the kakahu represents the land, he said. The tassels the tears for those lost in the tribal and colonial wars, and wars across the world. The poutama designs on the cloak are the pathways soldiers took in their journey to the spirit world. Some of the pathways are deliberately broken to represent the harshness of war.
Nicholas also had a hand in the selection, commissioning and placement of the other artworks that make up the park.
Rocks represent the mountains from which they were taken. Ruapehu – the parent mountain, Tongariro – the warrior mountain, inscribed with depictions of seven warriors, representing the seven canoes and associated tribes, and Taranaki.
The park stands on the site of the prison where the Parihaka leaders were held for two years, labouring to make bricks.