This is an unusual sculpture. After doing some research, I found out that is by Fiona Sutherland' and called "Gift of Land and Sea ", and is one of 20 sculptures along this track.
Cassowarys can be vicious creatures. Here is a story I read about from “Case histories of attacks by the Southern Cassowary in Queensland” by Christopher Kofron.
On 29 October 1995, three hikers on the Blue Arrow Track at Mount Whitfield encountered a cassowary preening itself. The hikers went off the trail, intending to circumvent the bird, but upon their emerging back onto the track the bird was waiting for them only 2m away.
The cassowary lowered its head, charged and butted Clive Skarrott in the back. While falling he grabbed a narrow tree trunk, the momentum spinning him around the tree and back again to face the cassowary.
The man quickly retrieved an apple from his pocket and offered it to the cassowary, which the bird ate from hand. The man offered a second apple which was also eaten. A third apple was offered, but then rolled down the slope, which the cassowary pursued.
The moral of this story is to always carry an apple or 3 in case of a cassowary attack.