Visitor numbers to South Canterbury are predicted to rise
when New Zealand's first interactive Maori rock art centre is
built in Timaru.
Yesterday's announcement of a Lotteries Grant worth nearly
$600,000 meant the Ngai Tahu Maori Rock Art Trust has now
secured the $2.7 million funding required to complete the
project.
Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu kaiwhakahaere Mark Solomon said the
project would "showcase to the world" what had too often been
a neglected or ignored art form.
The centre, in the Landing Service Building, would promote
cultural revitalisation, heritage protection and enhance the
trust's core work of protecting Maori rock art sites, as well
as offering an interactive visitor experience, trust curator
Amanda Symon said.
More than 580 rock art sites could be found throughout the
South Island, with the majority in the limestone rich areas
of South Canterbury and North Otago.
A site next to State Highway 83, just west of Duntroon, was a
particularly popular tourist stop.
Work on the rock art centre project started in 2006.
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