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Te Koopuu Maania o Kirikiriroa me oona maara kai “Across the smooth belly of Kirikiriroa its gardens bursting with the fullness of good things.”
King Tāwhiao (second Māori King) circa 1860’s . This proverb, shared on signage near Te Kōpu Mānia Bridge on SH1, comes from King Tāwhiao’ waiata maimai aroha (song of lament). It highlights the fertility of the soils in this rohe area.
Historically the Kirikiriroa area mentioned in this proverb extended from Cambridge to Ngāruawāhia. Archaeologists continue to find fascinating evidence of gardens and agriculture in this area.
Waiata
The sculpture named Maara kai (food gardens), celebrates the distinctive and unique feature of this area, namely the prevalence of food crops and gardens. The sculpture is in the form of a Timo which was a gardening tool used mainly by women. The full proverb of Tawhiao, the second Maaori King, is outlined in his waiata “Te Koopuu Maania o Kirikiriroa me oona maara kai” (“Across the smooth belly of Kirikiriroa its gardens bursting with the fullness of good things”).
Pre-European Māori Garden Sites in Waipa District
Māori woman gardening with a timo, date unknown. Photograph by Charles Lindsay. Te Papa. (MA_A.A.000002)
Timo, timotimo, or tima were used as grubbers for loosening soil. They were often made from a forked branch, with a flattened blade and a round handle. Some timo were straight, but with the forked-branch variety, their peculiarity lies in the length of the blade, being the same or longer, than the handle. The timo could be used effectively in a squatting position, and loosened soil too hard to be worked by a broad-bladed tool.
Māori artists have come together as Whetu Collective to paint what is said to be the biggest mural in New Zealand portraying Te Kōpū Mānia o Kirikiriroa that was once an abundant māra kai before Pākehā settled here.