Cloak fit for a king

Taupo Times, Volume 19, Issue 99, 23 December 1970, Page 8

Cloak fit for a king

When the GovernorGeneral, Sir Arthur Porritt, visited Wanganui recently, he was presented with a cloak fit j for a king — or a king's representative. Sir Arthur was declared an honprary member of the local Wanganui Maori tribe. And, to mark the occasion, a cloak I measuring 48 inches wide and 36 inches long, was given to him. The feathered cloak was created at Ngapuke by Mrs R. Gray and her husband's aunt, Mrs T. J. Rerekura, of Wanganui. The 23,000 feathers were in glowing blue from the pukeko, fluffy white from the breast of the domestic fowl, golden tan from the quail and golden red from the Rhode 1 Island red rooster. The whole cloak was manufactured on a frame, with a background or whatu of baling twine. Over the 400stitch width of the cloak the feathers were painstakingly caught in place, once at the soaped shank of the feather, again after the base had been

turned and then with a stitch between, making five stitches in all for every two feathers fastened. A border or Aonui pattern ran down each side of the feather overlay, in feathers of contrasting shade and at the nape of the cloak huka huka feathers fell in graceful folds where the Whakaruakopito pattern of the intricate taniko pattern began. This pattern was woven in black, red and white to a design of the tribe. Mrs Rerekura travelled specially from Wanganui to make this cloak with Mrs Gray after the first cloak she made for Sir Arthur was finished and she thought it too small. Mrs Gray, who had been collecting feathers for three years, offered her collection and together they worked six to nine hours a day to complete the project in plenty of time. Lined with royal blue satin, the cloak took them about 10 days, or between 150 and 180 hours of patient work.