Created by one of New Zealand's most well-known contemporary artists, Michael Parekōwhai (Ngāti Whakarongo, Ngāriki Rotoawe),  the 8.5-metre-high sculpture takes the shape of a full-scale, classic 1950s state house. There are weatherboards, windows, shutters, a brick chimney and a burnt-red front door. But inside, instead of domestic furnishings and other signs of suburban life, there is an installation of neon lights and a highly polished stainless steel sculpture titled, *The English Channel*, which depicts Captain Cook perched on a stool, looking down in contemplation.

The work sits at the water's edge on Queens Wharf, facing the Waitematā Harbour – an out-of-place piece of residential architecture on the utilitarian wharf. It was donated to Auckland by real estate firm Barfoot & Thompson Ltd and other anonymous benefactors in 2017 and is the largest gift of public art that Auckland has ever received.

Michael Parekōwhai, who is known for large-scale works that feature everyday objects, says *The Lighthouse / Tū Whenua-a-Kura* is, a "small house that holds the cosmos. We have the whole world in our house. A house that you can look into and see through," the artist told Our Auckland. "Our 'chandeliers' are not ones that hang from the ceiling but clusters of neon lights that represent the constellations…"

Writer Anthony Byrt described *The Lighthouse / Tū Whenua-a-Kura* in Metro as, "... a singularly important artwork. It simultaneously memorialises Māori resistance, pays tribute to our shared histories of navigation and migration, honours our egalitarian past, and acts as a gesture of permanent subterfuge in the heart of our property-obsessed city."

The Lighthouse / Tū Whenua-a-Kura

A simple yet imposing bronze statue of a Māori chief. Its form allows viewers to focus on the quiet power and strength of the figure. Artist, Molly Macalister, made the sculpture to welcome people arriving by boat at the downtown docks. It was first located, not far away, in front of the Britomart Transport Centre, where it complemented the neoclassical front of the building. It now stands on Quay Street, across from the Ferry Building.

In 1964, Auckland City Council invited Macalister to create a bronze figure. They wanted "a Māori figure in a traditional form". Macalister was the first woman in Aotearoa/New Zealand to receive a public art commission. Importantly, she also worked with local iwi Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei to complete the sculpture.

Macalister made and revised a series of sketches and small models of the figure before beginning work on the full-size sculpture. Her first sketches show a more combative warrior. The final sculpture revealed a dignified chief wearing a kaitaka, a precious flax cloak with an ornamental tāniko border. The chief holds a mere, a simple short flat weapon, lowered at his side as a sign of peace.

There was debate in the media. Some city councillors thought the statue should stick to more traditional ideas of a Māori warrior. The decision was made to continue with Macalister's figure and the final work was unveiled in July 1967.

A Māori Figure in a Kaitaka Cloak

Carved basalt sculptures, paving stones with small stainless steel pipi shells and 24 pop-jet fountains decorate the south-eastern corner of Takutai Square in Britomart, celebrating the past life of this location. This site was where the harbour and foreshore once was, an area that was also a rich food source for Māori before colonisation. The area's once-abundant sea life was harvested by the surrounding papakāinga (villages), such as Te Rerenga Oraiti Pā. A fortified headland, Te Rerenga Oraiti Pā stood guard at the eastern end of the Britomart complex, but was levelled and used for land reclamation.

The 16 boulders, which were carved in collaboration with Ngāti Whātua artists, are inscribed with motifs and placed in a loose grid formation. The water of the pop-jet fountains mimics the squirting shellfish that were once common in the former pipi bed, called Te Rou Kai. The stainless steel pipi are life-sized and embedded in the concrete that people walk on every day. *Te Rou Kai / Pipi Beds* was partially funded by the former Auckland Regional Council.

Te Rou Kai / Pipi Beds

This zigzagged line of neon stretches from one end of Fort Lane to the other, traveling up and down and side-to-side. A luminescent red colour, *Eyelight Lane* glows day and night, illuminating the pipes, bricks, windows and doorways of the lane. It adds an energy to the space, and, moving above passersby at the height of the first storey of the buildings on either side, this work encourages them to slow down, take notice and look up.

*Eyelight Lane* is a reminder of the earlier significance of Fort Lane; a service entrance to the historic buildings that are on Queen Street, and more recently, as part of the red-light district. The southern end of Fort Lane was the foreshore of the original settlement of Auckland and the area is the most historic part of the city centre.

Created by Swedish artist David Svensson from 120 metres of luminous neon, the work has been lighting up the space since it was switched on in February 2014 and is best viewed at night. It is typical of Svensson's work in that he often uses light as a sculpture to create environments.

Michael Parekōwhai

The Lighthouse / Tū Whenua-a-Kura

"This classic 1950s state house sits at the water’s edge, with neon lights representing the constellations and a polished sculpture of Captain Cook inside."

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