Exhibited NZ Sculpture on Shore, November 8th -18th 2012
(Voted in top five of "People's Choice Award")

In early New Zealand many rural families would have had a Hinaki in the back yard. This would have been set regularly to catch tuna. Now that our waterways have been exploited and are heavily polluted, tuna survival is threatened and the Hinaki have become a thing of the past. This may be the last one you will see. The Hinaki Waharua (the eel pot) is made from thin Puriri branches harvested from trees planted in our garden.

Hinaki-waharua

These are scribed and joined with epoxy resin, then screwed and dowelled. This structure is incredibly strong and has more than of two hundred and fifty stainless screws. Five tuna (eels) are made from a Totara log which washed down the Ngunguru River in a flood. This log had the original marking of a mill which finally closed in 1890. The Raupo leaves are made from hardwood, Jarrah piles originally used on the old Tutukaka Fisherman's Wharf.