Major Funding Boost for Māori Rock Art Research Led by Tūhura Otago Museum’s Dr Gerard O’Regan

Aotearoa’s ancient rock art heritage has received a significant lift, with Dr Gerard O’Regan, Curator Māori at Tūhura Otago Museum, awarded one of the country’s most prestigious research fellowships to deepen understanding of these fragile taonga.

Dr O’Regan has been selected by the Royal Society Te Apārangi as one of twelve mid-career researchers to receive a 2025 Mana Tūānuku Research Leader Fellowship – a highly contested award providing $1.16 million over four years to advance research, build leadership, and increase national impact.

The project, He tuhinga ki te ao – Māori rock art through time, will see Dr O’Regan carry out extensive fieldwork across Central Otago and Fiordland, surveying sites and identifying gaps in current archaeological knowledge. This will be paired with a review of earlier Ngāi Tahu surveys and his own research into rock art in the North Island, building the first comprehensive, contemporary overview of Aotearoa’s rock art traditions.

A key component of the work will explore the connections between Māori rock art and the visual traditions of other Polynesian islands – including Hawai‘i, the Marquesas, Tahiti and Rapa Nui – to better understand shared heritage and how motifs were used before and during early contact with Europeans.

Dr O’Regan will also investigate how rock art motifs are used today by Māori artists, and how kaitiaki marae are managing and protecting rock art sites. This research aims to inform culturally grounded strategies for heritage protection, cultural revitalisation and future tourism development.

One of the most exciting aspects of the project, says Dr O’Regan, is the opportunity to bring together experts in mātauranga Māori, traditional arts and the landscapes where rock art is found.
“We will explore and test how the rock art may be conceived through a mātauranga Māori lens,” he says. “Although archaeological knowledge has grown, we have not yet had the full and robust discussions that try to understand rock art in Māori terms. To foster these kōrero is an incredible and humbling privilege.”

The research will feed directly into a major Māori rock art exhibition, currently being developed by Tūhura Otago Museum, Canterbury Museum and the Ngāi Tahu Māori Rock Art Trust. Opening in Dunedin in 2027 before travelling to Christchurch and potentially further, the exhibition will be accompanied by a groundbreaking new book combining archaeological research with mātauranga Māori perspectives.

Tūhura Director Dr Ian Griffin says the fellowship is a powerful endorsement of Dr O’Regan’s leadership:
“We are so excited about the research, the exhibition and the book. This Fellowship will see Gerard fulfil his research leadership in this space, and we’re hugely appreciative of this recognition and vote of confidence in the museum’s place in Aotearoa’s research sector.”

For iwi, researchers and communities across the motu, the award signals a major step forward in honouring, understanding and protecting the rock art legacy left by tūpuna – taonga that continue to shape Māori identity, storytelling and connection to whenua.

Radio Waatea will continue to follow Dr O’Regan’s work and the development of this significant national exhibition.

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