He toa taumata rau: a celebration of courage

Last month, with a rousing haka from new police recruits Wing 359, He Toa Taumata Rau - an installation honouring courage - was officially opened at the New Zealand Police Museum at Porirua. 

To look at, it is quite a simple thing - 16 coloured steel pou (posts) line either side of a path down a grassy slope in front of the museum. At each end are two much larger wooden pou by carvers from the local iwi, Ngāti Toa. The steel pou feature the names of dozens of police officers, a few civilians and one police dog given awards for bravery during police actions since 1951.   

Simple things are seldom simple to make. When I looked back at my emails to remind myself when this project started, I was slightly stunned to find that the first contact from Rowan Carroll, the indefatigable director of the Police Museum, was in early 2020, before the start of the Covid lockdowns.  

Part of that time was about getting the process right. As the bicultural opening ceremony showed, the New Zealand Police are very serious about doing things in a culturally appropriate way. Early consultations with Ngāti Toa brought talented carvers Nathan Rei and Hermann Saltzmann onto the project. 

Nathan helped us with the incorporation of Māori design elements into the steel pou such as the mangopare (hammerhead shark pattern, symbolising tenacity) and puhoro (symbolising courage). Meanwhile he and Hermann worked away on a huge tōtara log found buried near the mouth of the Whanganui River to create two magnificent pou, one representing the challenge of the warrior, the other an upturned hull of a canoe - a memorial to the brave. 

On our side, the project went through a number of design iterations, and a whole heap of challenges, some wildly unexpected, others (like delays in getting hold of materials during Covid) unfortunately predictable. 

In the end, it’s all about the story. He Toa Taumata Rau has been translated as “a place of many brave deeds”. But it also means “bravery has many resting places”. In other words, there are many brave people in this world - people prepared to put their lives on the line for others. It is right that we should honour them. 

Learn more about the actions of those honoured at He Toa Taumata Rau here.