Ōwairaka, Statue of a Cloaked Woman, Alice Wylie Reserve, Mt Albert, NZ. Photograph by Rich Greissman, September 2024, used by permission.

In Jill Pierce's The Suffrage Trail: A guide to places, memorials ad the arts commemorating New Zealand women (1995) on page 31 is a description of a sculpture erected in the Alice Wylie Reserve in Mt Albert, Auckland in 1995. According to Pierce, the women of Mt Albert had fundraised for eighteen months to pay the artist for a suffrage memorial to represent all women. it was "Ōwairaka, Statue of a Cloaked Woman" by Christine Hellyar who cast it on site. Standing at 3.6 metres, the statue was made of 1200kg of bronze and patinated in blue patina on the botanical side and a black patina for the volcanic side. Hellyar told onlookers that the cloaked woman was inspired by Wairaka, an ancestor of Mount Albert. According to an information panel originally installed at the site in 1995:

"The mould was made of sand with a rock placed in the centre and vegetation pushed into the sides. The plants were removed before the liquid metal was poured, leaving a texture on the surface. Once set the sculpture was lifted into place with a crane. The statue sits on a mound of scoria representing the significant volcanic history of the area, Mt Albert/Ōwairaka having erupted more than 30,000 years ago."

The information panel is no longer extant, but Lisa Truttman included a photo of the panel in her Timespanner blog post about the celebration of the park's reopening in 2012. A bronze plaque that was installed in 1995 (and also is no longer extant) in the scoria bed at the foot of the work read: "This sculpture is a tribute to the sterling efforts of women who worked for the betterment of the community."

1993 Suffrage Commemoration by the Mt Albert Ladies Probus Club. Photo by Lisa Truttman taken in 2012 and used by permission.

Lisa also documented in her 2012 blog post that she saw a small plaque on a scoria brick that read: "Mt Albert Ladies Probus Club Commemorating Womens Suffragette Centenary 1893-1993." This little plaque is not listed in Pierce's 1995 Suffrage Trail guide. There is no longer a listing on the Probus Club website for a Mt Albert Ladies club, but Lisa tells me that they are called the Mt Albert Ladies Rebus Club now. However, this contribution for Suffrage Day was overlooked and then removed. The little plaque was placed only a few feet away from another plaque (still extant) that commemorates the now demolished Auckland Grammar School (a boarding school for boys only).

Interestingly, in another kind of vanishing act for women's history, the original purpose of the large building was not acknowledged on this plaque. According to Pocket Sights, Mt Albert History Walk, the reserve was originally crafted from the site of the Mount Albert Industrial School: "The Industrial School existed from 1900 to 1927 as a home for abandoned or neglected children. After 1916, it was for girls only. ‘Inmates’ had their hair shaved off when they arrived and were farmed out to foster parents, often as free domestic labour."

In May 2022, the nearly 30-year-old sculpture was vandalized and left lying horizontal on the ground. The Auckland Council’s Public Art team determined that the statue could not be repaired so they scanned the entire sculpture hoping for its replacement under supervision of the original sculptor Christine Hellyar.

The replacement sculpture was erected in September 2024 as part of the Suffrage Day celebrations in Auckland. You can read about it in the Auckland Council's news, "Ōwairaka knocked down but gets up again." The plaque describing the artwork is now embedded in the walkway to encourage walkers to look up and find the stunning piece. The plaque reads: 

Christine Hellyar
Ōwairaka
1994
2024
He rauwhero
He whakanui tēnei tārai i nga mahi a ngā wāhine i mahi rā hel painga mō te hapori
He Kohinga Mahi Toi nā Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau
Bronze
This sculpture is a tribute to the women of this community
Auckland Council Art Collection