Researcher on a quest to find ‘whānau of carvings’

A researcher from the University of Auckland has spent eight years locating a ‘whānau of carvings’ that were sent offshore over 200 years ago.

Eighteen taonga left the Bay of Islands in three shipments and Professor Deidre Brown (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu) has been on a quest to track down a group of eight whakairo (carvings) from one of the shipments. So far she has found seven.

She said the carvings were collected by a missionary named Thomas Kendall of the Christian Mission Society and sent to London.

"In 1823, [Kendall] collected this group of eight very large whakairo and sent them back to London with explanations about their spiritual meanings.

"It doesn’t really describe how they function, some are from pātaka (raised store houses), some of them are from waka taua (war canoes).”

The carvings arrived in London and Brown said it was around this time they were sold off and sent around Europe in various exhibitions, showcasing te ao Māori.

"They were sold off to a collector called Horatio Robley in 1910. Robley, we know him as someone who collected ūpoko toi — a very unusual pattern for a person.

"[Robley] sold them on to another dealer… whose name was William Oldman, who then sold them to museums around the world and kept some for his personal collection."

The journey has sent Brown to museums across Europe with majority of the carvings being showcased in places such as Switzerland and Germany. A traditional pare (lintel beam) is also currently on display at New York’s Brooklyn Museum.

Brown says the carvings are intricately designed, with narratives of Ngāpuhi chiefs etched into them.

"One of them is a beautiful carving, [a] kūwaha pātaka doorway which has Nukutawhiti on it, as the main figure."

Nukutawhiti was the captain of the ancestral waka, Ngātokimatawhaorua.

Brown also noticed patterns within the carvings consistent with those from across the Tairāwhiti region, establishing a possible intertribal link that Brown is yet to venture into.

"We know that Ngāpuhi sometimes commissioned carvers from further down the line to work with them… we know that Ngāpuhi in 1823 were very active with conflicts in those areas.

"Whether they were brought back as a result of the conflicts, or whether the carver had been commissioned, and had made them willingly in the north, that’s yet to be established.”

Brown has already begun conversations with Te Tai Tokerau kaumātua to determine the origins of the ancient carvings but is hoping the discovery of these taonga can also encourage discussions with East Coast iwi as well.

"I’m a firm believer that taonga reveal themselves when they want to prompt kōrero… I think that’s what’s happened here."

The search for the “whānau of carvings” is nearing its end, with Brown’s focus now shifting on the last missing taonga to the collection. She believes it’s somewhere in the country, but that has not yet been confirmed.

"There were eight in this group, and I’ve found seven… there’s a taurapa (sternpost), which should have a roman numeral X carved into it – a 10," she said.

Due to the continued digitalisation of research archives, Brown says finding such taonga has been easier than ever.

"These things have not been accessible to us before because of distance, or because they’ve been locked up, but now we can see them.

"There are 16,000 taonga Māori in overseas museums, and most [lableling] don’t say anything about them apart from being, they’re from Aotearoa."

tauihu — bow of a canoe

whakairo — to carve, carving

pātaka — raised store house

waka taua — war canoe

ūpoko toi — preserved heads

pare — lintel beam

kūwaha pātaka — entranceway of a pātaka (store house)

kōrero — to say, speak, talk

taonga — treasure, property, goods

taurapa — sternpost of a canoe