Pouwhenua

A pouwhenua is a wooden weapon, rather like a taiaha, which is used more ceremonially. Anyone watching the formal Maori welcome to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on Monday would have seen the way in which the taiaha was used in such a ceremony. It was also a deadly weapon.

This is a pou waho. The word pou means a pole, and waho signifies that it is outside. Outside the marae, perhaps as the Wellington city marae is immediately across the road from where this is situated. (For rugby player/fans, another meaning of pou waho is loose head prop.)

Attached to the back of the pou is a brass plaque reading:

This pou waho is dedicated to the Maori Battalion in memory of the ancestors of the Wellington Iwi who gave their lives for New Zealand and the local community. Carved by Eruera Te Whiti Nia of Ngati Te Whiti whose ancestor Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Te Whiti O Rongamai Love was the first Maori Battalion commander. The Pouwhenua was commissioned by the Loizou family of Wellington
24 April 1996

This magnificent sculpture in wood was erected the day before Anzac Day in 1996. On 25 April 1915 New Zealand and Australian soldiers fought at Gallipoli in an ill judged (by their British commanders) assault on the Turkish strongholds. Many of the ANZACs died. In both Australia and New Zealand 25 April is a day of remembrance to honour the soldiers then and more recently, both those who died and those who survived. In recent years more and more young people have attended the ceremonies; not to celebrate war, but to acknowledge the sacrifice.

Hopefully, to also demand that no more young men and women should suffer as those men did. In two weeks, it will again be Anzac Day. In one more year it will be 100 years since the original Anzac Day. Wars, killing, and the wastage of young lives continues.