‘Cook’ looks suitably naval, as befits a ship’s captain, in this statue which stood for 50 years on Kaiti Hill, overlooking Gisborne. Erected to commemorate the bicentenary of his visit, in 1969, it is in fact an imposter. It is a bronze casting of a marble statue imported from Italy by Captain Cook Breweries in Auckland, and is not a likeness of Cook. In 2019 the ‘crook Cook’ was taken down from his pedestal and placed in storage at Tairāwhiti Museum.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
by Janine Faulknor
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