Awarua Rūnanga would like to acknowledge the craftsmanship of Bubba Thompson, who undertook a commission from the Fiordland Marine Guardians Group.

This commission was first mooted about three years ago when Stewart Bull, the group’s iwi rep, approached Bubba with the idea of carving marine markers and erecting them along the coastline of Fiordland to mark protected marine reserves. The original concept was to carve round posts but this developed into the triangular marine markers as displayed in the photos below. Bubba wishes to acknowledge master carver Cliff Whiting, whose influence and style has been incorporated into the poupou. In time, pamphlets will be available to people travelling through this area, giving information on the Māori names of each poupou and which tūpuna they represent. [Read more…]