Horotiu – Giant Longfin Eel

Auckland CBD, Auckland, New Zealand

Public art

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Checked by Project Big Things · Aug 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

A monumental 7.2-metre bronze longfin eel beside Te Waihorotiu Station in central Auckland.

Private to your Passport.

PLAN YOUR VISIT

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This takes you to the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

Horotiu – Giant Longfin Eel

This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

Approximate location · 36.849° S, 174.765° E

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Horotiu is a seven-metre longfin eel spiralling down onto a footpath that has been carved to look like a stream bed.

The tuna kūwharuwharu is cast in silicon bronze and was unveiled by Auckland Council on 29 July 2026 at the corner of Queen and Victoria Streets, beside Te Waihorotiu Station. It was created by Chris Bailey – of Ngāti Hako, Ngāti Pāoa, Ngāti Porou and Te Aupouri – with Sally Smith, and it represents the kaitiaki of the Waihorotiu stream.

The paving is part of the work. Horotiu descends in a spiral to a footpath laid in volcanic basalt that the artists have etched to reflect the stream bed, so the sculpture is not standing on the ground but arriving through it. The Waihorotiu once ran down what is now Queen Street before it was culverted, and the station beneath takes its name from it – which means the eel is placed exactly where the water used to be.

Longfin eels deserve the scale. They are found only in New Zealand, grow to well over a metre, can live for many decades, and at the end of their lives swim thousands of kilometres into the Pacific to spawn once and die. They are also in serious decline.

The work is designed for close public interaction rather than to be kept at a distance, and it sits alongside Wāhine, the 3.7-metre karanga figure by Katz Maihi and Beronia Scott, at the busiest railway station in the country.

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PRACTICAL

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WHAT TO EXPECT

Auckland Council unveiled Horotiu on 29 July 2026. The 7.2-metre silicon-bronze tuna kūwharuwharu by Chris Bailey and Sally Smith represents the kaitiaki of the Waihorotiu stream and is designed for close public interaction.

ACCESS

Auckland Council places Horotiu at the corner of Queen Street and Victoria Street West, at the Queen Street end of the Te Hā Noa public realm and a short walk east of Wāhine and Te Waihorotiu Station's Victoria Street exit. PBT's stored point is an approximate object-specific pin consistent with that description, not yet independently map-checked. There is no vehicle stop at the sculpture; use public transport or lawful central-city parking and walk. Direct navigation is withheld.

COMMUNITY

Visitor Log

WHAT'S NEXT

Find another Big Thing nearby

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Current

Wāhine – Te Waihorotiu Station

Auckland CBD, Auckland

A 3.7-metre bronze figure performing a karanga at the Te Waihorotiu Station precinct.

Public art

0.2 km away

TRANSPARENCY

Sources & research

OurAuckland – Horotiu and Wāhine unveiled

Auckland Council · recorded 2026-08-23

Official Auckland Council launch record.

Government

Wikipedia – Horotiu (sculpture)

Wikipedia · recorded 2026-09-11

Gives an object-specific coordinate (-36.84901166, 174.76515361) 'on the corner of Queen Street and Victoria Street West' without citing its source. Consistent with Auckland Council's description and with Horotiu lying about 170 m east of the Wāhine anchor; stored rounded to five decimals at approximate precision.

Other

What we're still checking

Open-licence image search completed 24 August 2026. No defensible reusable image with file-level commercial-use provenance was verified in the completed Commons, government/open-licence and archival/open-collection sweep.

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