Public Art Tour Preview

Sean chose the Ruru (Morepork) as the centre piece for his mural. He says they’re just the best birds that cruise around the Wairarapa. The Ruru is adorned with native plants which are used in traditional Māori medicine and these grow around the region too.

The orangey brown wood-like surround gives the sense of a living frame where plants weave in and out creating depth.

This mural was commissioned by the Masterton Trust Lands Trust.

The Huia – last sighted in the Wairarapa region dominates the left of the artwork facing the beloved North Island Kōkako on the right. This artwork pays homage to what we once had in the form of our Huia, while paying respect to the success story of the now thriving North Island Kōkako, thanks to Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre at Mt Bruce.

The brightly blue coloured manu is surrounded in native Karo flowers, leaves and fruit, a favourite food source for the Kōkako. In Māori myth, the Kōkako filled its wattles with water and brought it to Maui as he fought the sun. The left side of the artwork includes the native Hīnau plant, a popular forest fruit of the Huia, while the soft palette portrays a bygone era or something lost.

This mural was commissioned by the Masterton Trust Lands Trust.

The two corrugated iron bullocks were made by Masterton-based artist Warren Jackson, and represent a Hereford and a Shorthorn oxen. The dray they are pulling is loaded with wool bales from the Glendonald farm and behind them you'll see the original Glendonald woolshed that was moved into Masterton to become part of The Wool Shed Museum.

The dray was restored by wheelwright and carriage builder Greg Lang. You can see more of Greg's work inside the museum where you'll see the Jubilee Fire Engine, a horse-drawn, steam-powered water pump that came all the way from London in 1887.

Inspired by the wonderful Wairarapa rivers and the moments we spend at them this mural captures children participating in a game of skimming stones, an absolute automatic reaction that hits us all when down at the river side. We do not see their faces, identity is not given – leaving the viewer to create their own memory.

Earthy tones combine with cultural earthy reds which blend in with the architecture around the wall.

This mural was commissioned by the Masterton Trust Lands Trust.

This bronze statue was created by local Masterton sculptor Ken Kendall. From early childhood he was deeply interested in modelling the human figure. His works are in the boardrooms of many New Zealand public companies. Permanent collections in New Zealand, Australia, America, United Kingdom and Europe display ‘Kendall’ masterworks. He was also commissioned to create a sculpture of Joseph Masters, the man after which Masterton was named.

Created by Sean Duffell and Swiftmantis, the Tuī in the park is the largest of Sean's many murals that Masterton is lucky to have.

Cast in bronze by master sculptor Ken Kendall the work shows Joseph Masters, the European namesake of Masterton, reading to a young girl and sitting on a barrel. These elements signify his trade as a cooper and his dedication to education. The work was commissioned by a local group to commemorate the 150 year anniversary of European settlement. Kendall is also responsible for the statue of famous swagger 'Russian Jack' which can be found in library square.

This is a part of a series of "Seated figures" dating back to 1998 and created by Paul Dibble. It takes it form from the biblical garden, as plentiful provider of bounty. Here in the "Garden of Delights" she holds on outstretched arm an apple, as if on display or offering it to some invisible companion.

A vibrant flock of sheep at the north entrance to Masterton was unveiled on the eve of the 2026 Golden Shears competition. ‘Flock of Champions’ celebrates the international shearing community – reflecting the town’s proud rural heritage and home of the Golden Shears.

Featuring a flock of brightly painted life-sized sheep sculptures, the artwork was commissioned by Masterton Trust Lands Trust (MTLT), with support from Masterton District Council, Trust House, and Resene.

Ascension is the creation of internationally acclaimed sculptor Neil Dawson. The artwork is a ten metre high double helix sculpture, suspended five metres above the ground. It is ambitious and daring, appearing to defy gravity as it hovers above the northern entrance to Masterton. Ascension takes pride of place in the middle of the round-about at the northern entrance to Masterton and creates an unforgettable physical and visual focus for residents and visitors alike.

In the early 1960s E. Mervyn Taylor was commissioned by Government Architect Gordon Wilson to create a mural for the portico of a new Post Office being developed for Masterton. The resulting ceramic tile work, Early Settlers, was unveiled at the opening of the new Chief Post Office in 1962.

Designed to catch a moment of time in the European settlement of the town, the mid to late 1800s, it depicts the importance of the town’s original Post Office building as both a communication link and social gathering place. The scene is set against a backdrop illustrating the act of deforestation—another strong theme of early settler life. In the right of the image two men stand side-by-side: a forestry worker with his axe in hand and a Maori warrior with his taiaha. Behind them stands a remaining section of forest with birds swooping above it. This is symbolic, considering that Pūkaha Mount Bruce officially became a national bird sanctuary in 1962—the year Early Settler was unveiled.

A contemporary viewing of this mural, however, touches upon a much wider narrative of land dispossession and the loss of what was known as 70-mile bush, Te Tapere ui a Whātonga, a forest that stretched from Masterton to Hawkes Bay. Taylor would have been aware of this history, which may explain why the taiaha is depicted ready for battle whereas the axe, with the forest nearly gone, is resting head down. Although both Maori and Pākehā are present, there is no interaction between the two.

The history of the mural has been no less complex. During the Post Office’s occupancy of the building, the portico was enclosed and Post Office boxes were placed in front of the mural. Later, after New Zealand Post had sold and vacated the building, retailers came in to the space and in 2013 a wall was built in front of the mural. The mural remained hidden until 2018, when the building’s new owner had the wall removed and returned the mural to public display.

Information provided by Public Art Heritage Aotearoa.

The Tuna Gate was designed by Landscape Architect, Rachael Callahan for the Park Island Rejuvenation Project and was built by Progressive Engineering. The Friends of the Park had this craned onto the island.

Distant Chant Waiata Te Whiti is the work of New Zealand sculptor Sean Crawford. It was commissioned by Masterton Trust Lands Trust in 2023 and sits on the lawn of Con Art Gallery.

The sculpture consists of two laser-cut corten steel panels with a pair of huia emerging – each mirrors the other. At night, the huia shine bright as lights bring the sculpture to life.

Distant Chant echoes the voices of Whakaoriori Masterton - from its pre-settlement valley filled with the chorus of birdsong, to the gentle waiata joining the sound of flowing water. The ordered, patchwork pattern of the interior wall section is a reference to the development of the ‘Small Farms Association’, with its cutout huia bird design mirroring the check-board plains that surround Masterton. As a township grows, the chant of habitation also changes its pitch - old sounds fade and new sounds start to resonate.

These voices continue their stories in this sculpture, as the uniform wall pattern suggests the ordered structure of development. This pattern is representative of these sounds of change, and the surrounding land giving way to European settlement. Within this work the emerging huia bird (the echo of the lost chant) becomes the emblematic force. By bringing all these historical sounds into the present, the huia becomes a representation of a united community voice. It links the fabric of the past with beak raised and wing ready on currents of air, and in doing so, the past comes into the present. Thus, this beautiful, but now extinct, creature reminds us to be mindful of the past whilst also having an eye to the future.

Zoe and Pip (Pippa Keel and Zoe Gillett) were immediately drawn to Wairarapa’s five rivers, home to NZ’s endemic Longfin eels. Water and flow became the basis for their mural concept – the waters of each river weaving together.

Within these flowing waters, Zoe and Pip highlight some of the native species that call the rivers and surrounding estuaries home. Snippets of endemic Sea Primrose and other native aquatic plants sit at the water’s edge, drawing the viewer in.

This mural was commissioned by the Masterton Trust Lands Trust.

Following the end of World War II Masterton resolved to create a series of ‘Living Memorial’ projects including the construction of a large community hall or stadium. Funding was approved in March 1960 and the project’s architects, Daniell & Wevers, recommended a decorative feature on the southern wall of the War Memorial Stadium’s Hall of Memories. E. Mervyn Taylor got the job, proposing a glass mosaic mural made from tiles sourced by Smith & Smith from an Italian factory.

Almost from the start things started to go wrong. Muranite produced the tiles in Venice and shipped them to England, where they were found to be water damaged. One year later the repaired/replaced tiles arrived from Italy and were installed in the Hall of Memories. Taylor, Daniell & Wevers, and a representative from Smith & Smith inspected the mural finding a series of faults: 5 colour variations; 4 variations from the original design; outlines of shapes not clean enough; and joints between tiles haphazard and not tight enough. Taylor himself wrote to the architects requesting that the mural be covered up so the public could not see it.

The NZ agent for Muranite, dismissed the criticism as ‘exaggerated’, but conceded that the toning down of some of the colours, combined with some lines not being as well defined as they should have been, had reduced the desired clean impression. Daniell & Wevers were not prepared to accept a ‘patched up’ mural, saying a complete replacement was the only sensible option. A stand-off ensued. The council’s solicitor became involved. Finally, by March 1964, Smith & Smith, Taylor and the Council had resolved to replace the mosaic with ceramic tiles mural manufactured by Carter & Co. of England. Tragically, Taylor died in June 1964. His wife, Teddy, arranged a revised design for the mural based on Taylor’s existing drawings. The tiles were finally installed in March 1966 just prior to being unveiled on Anzac Day, nearly 21 years after the end of the war they memorialised.

Text adapted from Gareth Winter’s essay “Lest We Forget: The Battle for the Mural” in Wanted: The Search for the Modernist Murals of E. Mervyn Taylor (Massey Press, 2018).

In this mural by Gina Kiel, the central circular form represents calm evening/night and sleep with the flowing and radiating colours representing the song. Her hands are releasing the birds into flight to carry their songs to the elders and the young ones across the air.

The project was spearheaded by the Kokomai festival.

"This mural depicts 4 sections painted in Masterton for the Kokomai Festival. The last section I planned to freestyle until I met Maxine Hemi, author of Ngārara Haurau. A children’s book that tells the story of a Taniwha (Ngārara Haurau) who escaped from his cave in Waimarama and began a path of total destruction all the way down to the Wairarapa where he was eventually trapped, beheaded and defeated. His body that was left to lay became the Tararua mountains. So in the last section I paid homage to the legend by including elements from the story and of course the Taniwha hiding in his cave. As I was finishing the mural one of the elders from the Hurunui-o-Rangi Marae stopped by and said he’d bless the wall since he was in town and also named the wall Te Waonui a Tāne. Tāne is the forest god who separated earth and sky and let light into the world."

A painted collage of head and shoulder portraits, the heads made up of various objects and flora and fauna.

When Masterton Trust Lands Trust (the town’s oldest community organisation) converted 115 Chapel Street from retail store, to a modern fit-for-purpose Trust office, it commissioned a mural for Masterton to adorn the building exterior.

‘Take Flight’ builds on the concept of a community taking flight to prosper together.

Artist Lotte Hawley drew inspiration from the Trust’s long history of enriching the town’s cultural and community education, set against the region’s natural landscape. Using a bold colour pallette of blues and golds, the mural features larger than life Tūi and flax bushes (harakeke) beneath the region’s world-famous dark skies.

At ground level, a young child reads a book, perched on a tree stump while another plays with poi. These scenes are a nod to the Trust’s connection with community and its enduring support for life-long learning.