Opunake Maori have rejected an offer of a whale bone sculpture by the the New Plymouth District Council.
Waatea News reports the work by landscape designer Kim Jarrett was originally commissioned for the 2006 Rhododendron Festival by the Taranaki Arts Festival Trust.
But it was removed from the New Plymouth foreshore because the district council did not want to pay for maintenance.
Mana whenua spokesperson Kerry Walsh says a hui at Orimupiko Marae has rejected the sculpture because it illustrates an East Coast legend of Tinirau and his pet whale Tutunui, which has no connection to Taranaki.
South Taranaki deputy Mayor Debbie Ngarewa Packer says the idea got as far as it did because of flawed consultation.
She says the councils will keep working to find the sculpture a home.
