The print was developed from a sketch of a North Island Saddleback in Zealandia, Wellington. Tīeke, or Saddleback (there are both North Island and South Island species that in adult form are very similar) were once widespread in both mainland islands of New Zealand, however began to decline upon deforestation and the spread of introduced predators (rats, cats and stoats), owing to their habit of nesting low and their fledgelings being active on the ground (tīeke are limited fliers and as adults typically hop from branch to branch). By the 1960s the North Island species was reduced to a relict population on Taranga/Hen Island in the Hauraki Gulf, northwest of Auckland. Translocation efforts, which began shortly after, have spread it to other island sanctuaries and to mainland fenced sanctuaries, including Zealandia, where they were reintroduced in 2002; equivalent efforts saved the South Island species from almost certain extinction when rats were accidentally introduced by boat to Taukihepa/Big South Cape Island, off Rakiura/Stewart Island.

According to Māori tradition, tīeke acquired their coloured “saddle” from Māui, fresh from his battle to tame the sun Tama-nui-te-rā, who had previously moved across the sky too quickly, and burned too fiercely. Thirsty, Māui asked the tīeke for water. Tīeke pretended not to hear, and Māui, angry, grasped the bird’s body with his still burning-hot hand, leaving a scorch mark across its back.

While still confined to isolated relict populations, the recovery of tīeke populations stimulated pioneering work in translocating bird populations, and is regarded by many as one of Aotearoa/New Zealand’s greatest conservation success stories, as I remember being told in primary by probably a representative of DOC (New Zealand’s Department of Conservation) in about 1980. Following the 2002 release of tīeke in Zealandia, there has been confirmed evidence of breeding in neighbouring Polhill reserve, outside the predator-proof fence, since 2014, just over a century after their having been declared extinct on the mainland in 1910.

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Artist Statement

I first came across linocut printmaking aged nine at Silverdale Normal School in Hamilton, New Zealand. This was following a school camp, and so my subject was a piwakawaka/fantail, a forest bird with a habit of following people, as they disturb the insects it can then feed on. I subsequently completely failed to follow this up for fifteen years, when a chance discovery on a rainy day of a small linocut kit in the woodpile while on holiday in Uri, Switzerland, with my wife to be reawakened my interest. Having been a completely home-based hobby-printmaker during the intervening decades, I joined Northern Print in 2018, and haven’t looked back since, particularly in learning about new tools, materials and techniques. I am interested in nature, people, movement and colour, which continues to include many bird designs!