What's On at Zealandia

The winter of 2002 saw the most ambitious species release in Zealandia to date.  

The lush cascading kiekie plants at Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne have been harvested as a gift to the country’s cultural heritage. 

Nestled in specially designed kete/baskets made from harakeke/flax, 150 kākahi/freshwater mussels recently made their way to their new home in Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne. 

Picture a city where trees and plants coexist with buildings and streets, where a thick cover of ivy snaking up the side of a skyscraper is a deliberate choice rather than a happy accident, where you might pass a dozen exotic species of flower on the way to work, or happen upon some friendly wildlife on your way to buy milk. Imagine turning the sometimes lifeless architecture of an urban environment into a symbiotic relationship; a biophilic city.

On earlier visitor maps,  ZEALANDIA`s Lower Dam was referred to as The Lower Lake and the Upper Dam as the Upper Lake. Originally, however, The Lower Dam was named The Lower Reservoir, which was an earth dam completed in 1878. Due to the European settlers wanting farmland, large fires in 1850 and 1860 cleared that area of its broadleaf forest. Some of the valley was farmed uptil 1906, then any remaining catchment area was bought for waterworks.

Historically, te reo Māori was an oral language and Matariki (Māori New Year) was a time when knowledge was shared orally, as in reciting whakapapa (family trees). Matariki was also a time when legends were passed on orally.

One such legend is about Tāne-mahuta – the guardian spirit of the forest and the god of light. He pushed Rangi-nui (Sky Father) and Papa-tū-ā-nuku (Earth Mother) apart, so that he and his brothers had more light and space. One of Tāne-mahuta’s many brothers was Tāwhiri-mātea, the god of wind and storms. Tāwhiri-mātea was angry about his parents being forcibly separated and cried seven tears that became the seven stars of Matariki.

Wellington resident Jim Lynch, QSM, who from 1990 – 1995, managed to sell his dream of a fenced, urban sanctuary, and see it evolve into ZEALANDIA, Wellington’s pride. Jim, now retired and living in Waikanae, remains humble about his achievement. He’s adamant that he was just a small cog within a much larger group effort. “I feel so lucky to have been a part of this project. There was a lot of worry in the first few years, and it’s only in the last 5 years that it’s started to feel safe. It hasn’t been easy, but it’s been worth it.

Matariki, the start of the Māori New Year, is signalled by the appearance of seven stars low on the north-eastern horizon at dawn. Also known as Pleiades, the stars arrive any time from late May to mid June. This year the stars arrived on 18 June. Different tribes celebrated Matariki at different times. In the 21st century, the New Year starts with the first new moon following the rising of Matariki.