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Mei Hill (Ngāti Whātua, Ngā Puhi, Te Aupōuri, Te Rarawa) is a multidisciplinary artist, cultural designer, and placemaker with more than 20 years of experience creating meaningful public artworks across Aotearoa, New Zealand. Her work weaves together Māori culture, storytelling, and contemporary design to create spaces that reflect identity, connection, and a strong sense of place. Working across glass, sculpture, and a range of innovative materials, Mei has contributed to projects in education, housing, health, and urban development. At Scott Point School, her artworks celebrate the history of the whenua and the enduring connection between people, culture, and the natural environment.

Before European settlement, the Scott Point area, known as Onekiritea, was an important place for Te Kawerau ā Maki. Te Kawerau ā Maki trace their ancestry to the Tainui waka and are named after their ancestor Maki, who settled the northern Auckland region in the early 1600s. Onekiritea was covered in towering kauri and pūriri forests and provided abundant food through fishing, shellfish gathering, birdlife, and kūmara cultivation. The area's distinctive clay soil gave Onekiritea its name and was valued for both its use as a natural pigment and as a soap. Today, these stories help us understand the deep cultural and historical connection Māori have with this landscape.

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For more than 900 years, the Kaipara has been home to generations of Māori, who lived from its rich forests, waterways, and fertile land. Over time, the people of the region developed strong connections through whakapapa, shared history, and guardianship of the whenua. Today, the Mana Whenua of Kaipara continue to care for this landscape, protecting its cultural heritage and ensuring its stories are passed on to future generations. Their deep relationship with the land, waters, and people reminds us that every place has a history, and every generation has a role in caring for it.

Long before Scott Point School was built, an ancient kauri tree stood proudly on this site, watching over the landscape for more than 1,000 years. After falling around 63,000 years ago, the tree was buried and preserved beneath layers of clay, protecting it for thousands of generations. Its discovery during the school's development provided a remarkable connection to the deep natural history of Onekiritea. Today, a slice of this extraordinary tree is displayed in the school as a treasured taonga, reminding us of the forests that once covered this land and inspiring us to care for the environment for future generations. Kauri are among the world's largest and longest-living trees, making this discovery a truly special part of Scott Point School's story.

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