RESTORATION UNDERWAY

Tu Tangata, Issue 4, 1 February 1982, Page 21

RESTORATION UNDERWAY

The Historic Places Trust is engaging conservator Mr Karel Peters, of Auckland, to work on the conservation of two meeting houses at Reporoa and Te Awamutu, and a carved monument near Taumarunui. Mr Peters will undertake the supervision and work at the maraes over a six-week period. The Tawhaki Piki kite Rangi monument on the Te Koura marae, near Taumarunui, consists of four carved totara faces on a solid block of totara with a carved human figure on top. The carving has deteriorated at the base and has rotted in places. The aim is to dismantle the whole monument, and clean, consolidate and repaint the carving, before reassembling the monument. Special sealers and resins would be used in the work. Insect damage At the Aotearoa marae at Kihikihi, near Te Awamutu, paint on the carvings of the Hoturoa meeting house will be removed before rotted parts and other water and insect damage is repaired and consolidated and strengthened. After treating, repairing and sealing, the carvings will be repainted. An architectural report suggests that some structural work is needed on the roof, foundations and walls. The third conservation project is at the Tahumatua meeting house on the Te Ohaki marae, at Reporoa, where the owners were already repairing the structure, towards which the Historic Places Trust had given a SIOOO grant in May last year. All the outside carvings will need to be removed and dried out before being cleaned, and the rotted and damaged parts treated. Manutuke meeting house The Historic Places Trust has also agreed to make a grant for the purchase of materials required for the structural restoration of Te Poho-o-Rukupo meeting house at Manutuke, Gisborne. An initial grant of $3,000 will allow the most urgent work to be done this summer. Double skin The meeting house is of a “double-skin” form of construction, and the exterior skin must be strengthened and stabilised to ensure it does not settle on the inner structure. New roof rafters and roofing iron will be provided, the side walls rebuilt, the end walls strengthened, and the ceiling replaced. Te Poho-o-Rukupo is an important house in the history of the Gisborne district, and noted for its superb and original painted patterns. In 1977 the Historic Places Trust conducted a restoration school at Rukupo to demonstrate and teach ways of cleaning and repainting the interior paintings. This restoration school was filmed by the trust jointly with Pacific Films, and clearly demonstrated the importance of this aspect of the trust's work.