{"id":254588,"date":"2026-01-27T19:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T19:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/254588\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T19:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T19:16:11","slug":"sacred-stone-marks-official-reopening-of-pictons-london-quay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/254588\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacred stone marks official reopening of Picton’s London Quay"},"content":{"rendered":"

The welcoming of a k\u014dhatu, or sacred stone, marked the official reopening of Picton\u2019s London Quay after its revitalisation.<\/p>\n

By Kira Carrington, Local Democracy Reporter<\/p>\n

A dawn ceremony was held at the new k\u014dhatu, named Te Punga Toit\u016b, or the Enduring Anchor, on the corner of London Quay and High St on Tuesday. The revitalisation last year brought new pavement, raised pedestrian crossings, plant boxes and bench seating.<\/p>\n

The k\u014dhatu was found near Rai Valley and carved at Waikawa Marae by stonecarver Maia Hegglun, who said his carving simply revealed the story the stone had to tell.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t take the full credit there. In fact, I can take very little. I really just put the stone in the driver\u2019s seat and followed along.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stone featured a combination of natural and man-made elements that represented the passage of time and the story of Te \u0100tiawa o Te Waka-a-M\u0101ui from mythological times to colonisation.<\/p>\n

\"Te<\/p>\n

Te Punga Toit\u016b, the new k\u014dhatu placed at the corner of London Quay and High St, marks the entrance to the revitalised area of London Quay. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you just view the bits that are carved, you don’t get much from it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when you view it with the man-made bits and the natural parts together, it starts to make a little more sense.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to unravel that story, all you need to do is ask questions and be observant.\u201d<\/p>\n

The welcome was marked by waiata before the gathered crowd was invited to touch the k\u014dhatu.<\/p>\n

Landscape architect and director of Nelson-based Waka Group Architecture Keni-Duke Hetet thanked everyone who had been involved in the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s been an honour and a privilege for me to work on this project for the wh\u0101nau,\u201d Hetet said.<\/p>\n

\"“I<\/p>\n

\u201cI really just put the stone in the driver\u2019s seat and followed along.\u201d Stonecarver Maia Hegglun explains the meaning of the k\u014dhatu at the London Quay dawn service. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)<\/p>\n

While the project marked the close relationship between the iwi and Marlborough District Council, Hetet said there was still room for stronger bonds.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur relationship between iwi and councils, it’s getting better, but it could even be a lot better than what it is currently,\u201d Hetet said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to put that wero (challenge) out to the councils at the moment … we need to strengthen those ties and make this whole approach to our cities and townships throughout the country even better than what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ceremony was attended by the members of Te \u0100tiawa, Mayor Nadine Taylor, Councillors Barbara Faulls, Raylene Innes, and Allanah Burgess, council staff, and contractors Fulton Hogan.<\/p>\n

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The welcoming of a k\u014dhatu, or sacred stone, marked the official reopening of Picton\u2019s London Quay after its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,16256,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-254588","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-marlborough","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}