This huia feather represents a rangitira which means a leader with Mana. The huia feathers were worn by Māori chiefs and people of high ranking. We learned that the more huia feathers worn by a person indicated the greater importance they held.
Did you know that the huia birds were last seen in our Tararua ranges before they became extinct?
Delphi drew a draft feather with the Tararua Rountains and the Manawatū River. There were also buildings from the past on her feather. Because harakeke is an important plant in our history we chose to weave our Tararua maunga.
We helped to paint the outline of this huge huia feather with colour coding of dark blues and purples. We also painted the enormous white tip of the huia feather. Delphi did the masking tape on the buildings ready for painting plus she painted some of the cows. She is proud of how her draft drawing has created the largest mural on the walls of our kura. She loves how the huia feather floats freely in the breeze. Pa Wylie wrote a whakatauki for this art piece.
He rerenga raukura. He rere no tua whakarere.
A flight of a feather is a flight from ancient times.
We uphold the mana of ourselves and our school.
We are confident and take risks.
We are aware of our own needs and the needs of others.
Learning does not occur without this - though we aim for it to be fun.
We work and play together.
