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Photo Essay: Pounamu will be centre-piece in new Wellington Regional Hospital
A large piece of Pounamu which has been gifted to Wellington Hospital by local Maori will form a central focus in the entryway to the new Wellington Regional Hospital building.
Pounamu - known elsewhere as jade or greenstone - is treasured across many countries and cultures. It has been used around the world in art, for personal adornment and in tools and weapons since prehistoric times.
Maori regard Pounamu as a Taonga (treasure), and as a consequence the Pounamu which has been delivered to Wellington Hospital is technically "on indefinite loan" and will remain in the ownership of local Maori.
A delegation of local Maori, led by Ngata Love, delivered the Pounamu - which was initially kept under a flax and feather cloak (Korowai) - to the atrium of the new Wellington Regional Hospital on Tuesday this week. Their arrival was greeted with a traditonal Karanga (welcoming chant) from local Kuia and Kaumatua on behalf of the District Health Board.
Greetings and acknowledgments were exchanged between local Maori representatives and the Hospital's managers and Kaumatua.
In due course the Pounamu was unveiled by the representatives of local iwi (pictured below).
The Chief Executive of C&C DHB, Ken Whelan, gratefully and humbly accepted the Pounamu - which will be prominently displayed close to the main entrance to the atrium of the new Wellington Regional Hospital building. "This is a gift which reflects the importance of health to Maori, and the huge importance of the role this new facility will have for the health of Maori and for all peoples in this district," Mr Whelan said. The C&C DHB Maori Partnership Board are tasked with being the Kaitiaki (guardians) of the Pounamu while in the new hospital.
