A rediscovered taurapa from Thomas Kendall’s 1823 Marianna consignment of whakairo rākau (Māori wood carvings).

Authors

Keywords:

Tungaroa, Church Missionary Society, William Oldman, Horatio Robley, whakairo rākau, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Abstract

The last unaccounted-for whakairo rākau (Māori wood carving) from an 1823 consignment of eight sent to London from the Bay of Islands by the missionary Thomas Kendall has now been located in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. The rediscovery of this taurapa (sternpost) from a waka taua (war canoe) completes research undertaken to establish the whereabouts of the consignment. The taurapa’s identification also sheds new light on the role of Tungaroa, a high-born woman from Rangihoua, as the probable interpreter of the whakairo rākau for Kendall.

Author Biography

Deidre Brown, Waipapa Taumata Rau | The University of Auckland

Deidre Brown is of Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Kahu descent, a professor of architecture at Waipapa Taumata Rau The University of Auckland and a Māori art and architectural historian. Her books include Tai Tokerau Whakairo Rākau: Northland Māori Wood Carving (Reed, 2003), Māori Architecture (Raupo, 2009), the multi-authored Art in Oceania: A New History (Thames & Hudson, 2012) and co-authored (with Ngarino Ellis) Māori art history, Toi Te Mana (Auckland University Press). In 2020 she was elected fellow of Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects and the following year fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi. Of relevance to her paper is that she is a descendant of the Rangihoua rangatira (chief) Te Pahi and the great-granddaughter of the Church Missionary Society missionary Matthew Slater.

Cover for Waka Kuaka December2024

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Published

2025-01-03

Issue

Vol. 133 No. 4 (2024)

Section

Shorter Communications

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