February 16, 2015
Tasman waka landing site identified
Close scrutiny of the first representation of Maori done by a European pointed a University of Canterbury maritime history student to the location of New Zealand’s oldest known maritime structure still extant.
Dr Rosanne Hawarden enlarged a high resolution scan of an engraving of a double hulled canoe on Tasman Bay, based on a drawing done during Dutch explorer Abel Tasman’s 1642 visit.
Four of Tasman’s crew were killed in the encounter, prompting him to dub the place Murderer’s Bay and sail away.
Dr Hawarden says the background of the image includes a dozen tiny canoes on the shore.
By sailing out to where the original drawing was probably made, she identified the landings as Taupo Point and Takapou in Golden Bay.
Examination of other early drawings and photographs and a visit to Taupo Bay showed large boulders had been cleared from the rocky beach to make canoe haulages or tauranga waka.
Dr Hawarden will present her research at the 9th International Conference on Easter Island and the Pacific in Berlin in June.
Meanwhile, a copy of the 1650 etching comes up an auction in Auckland tomorrow as part of a collection of images of Maori put together by former Rotorua Museum director John Perry.
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