B.
Toroa by Hone Tuwhare
Note
Today's poem is a long one so your hands will be scrubbed as clean as they have ever been. We are extremely grateful to the poet's son Rob for identifying this poem as 'one of our faves!' Curator Nathan Pohio is the reader and he knows the royal albatross colony at Taiaroa Heads well: his mum used to be a guide there and still lives nearby. Take your time with this one - it's well worth it!
Related
Exhibition
Eileen Mayo: Nature, Art and Poetry
2 February – 9 June 2019
An artist’s intense love of nature echoes throughout her work.
Collection
Eileen Mayo Toroa / Northern Royal Albatross
Images of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most threatened and vulnerable bird species entered homes across the country in 1977 in an unlikely form: free picture cards tucked inside packets of Gregg’s® Jelly Crystals. Designed by Eileen Mayo and later gathered into printed albums titled 'Rare and Endangered Birds of New Zealand', the thirtyfive-card series brought conservation before a broad audience. Mayo completed the commission over eight months, largely in Ōtepoti Dunedin while working part-time at Otago Museum, drawing directly from specimen collections for reference.The toroa, or northern royal albatross, breeds on the Otago Peninsula, laying a single egg on open ground and raising the chick through a long breeding cycle. One adult remains at the nest while the other travels vast distances at sea in search of food, returning in long, irregular cycles. The chick is raised over many months as adults alternate between nest and ocean.
(Bird Land: Te Kāhui Manu 15 August 2026 – 8 February 2027)