Te Waka Huia Photogrammetry Display at Te Ara Ātea

These taonga on display at Te Ara Ātea each tell an important story of our past and they have been transformed through revolutionary 3D photogrammetry. This is a process of reproducing a physical item in order to make an accurate 3D model. It can be used to capture everything from huge structures and people to historical artefacts like these on display. Here are some of the objects virtually on display. The original collection items are held at Canterbury Museum.

The great tuna harvest
Tuna patu (eel striker) 1300-1500
This ancient Tuna patu (eel striker) was hauled out of Te Waihora (Lake Ellesmere) in the 1930s. It marks the importance of the tuna heke, the harvest of migrating eels, in the maramataka, the seasonal cycle, of Ngāi Tahu.

The patu is many centuries old. The chevron style of its carving is a link to the art that tangata whenua brought from Hawaiki, their homeland in the Eastern Pacific. The ancestors probably used the patu in rituals that began the autumn harvest of tuna. In former times, the lake would teem with mature adults heading for their Pacific Ocean breeding grounds. Thousands would be netted in kōumu (shingle channels) as they sought their escape to the sea across Kaitorete Spit. The catch provided an abundance of food for storing and trade. We are privileged to welcome this taoka (treasure) of te ao Māori to its home area again.

Precious fragment
Raranga harakeke (woven flax) preserved in mud 1500-1600
This fragment of raranga harakeke, flax leaf weaving, was part of a whāriki (mat). It could be 600 years old - very rare for something made from plant materials.

This taonga came from Tent Burn near the Rakaia river mouth, an area long occupied by the ancestors of Ngāi Tahu. Whitebait fisher Bob Nee spotted the unusual object in an excavated stream bank and took it to Canterbury Museum. Its survival is due to the paru (mud), in which the fragment is embedded. The original whāriki was probably buried in swamp mud for dyeing, and for some reason left there. The mud layer preserved it, away from light and air. Its fragments began to deteriorate as soon as they were exposed to the elements again. 

Woven footwear
Pāraerae harakeke, sandals woven from New Zealand flax, 1880s
Barefoot was the default mode of travelling for Māori in te ao tawhito (customary times). However, the climate extremes and rugged terrain of Te Waipounamu called on southern weavers' ingenuity to create foot protection when needed.

These pāraerae (sandals) made of harakeke (New Zealand flax) are examples of their craft. Tī kōuka (cabbage tree) leaves were also used. For crossing the mountains, travellers might stock up many pairs for the journey, and be ready to make more on the way. Well-made sandals might last several days of easy going. But walking up riverbeds or on the broken rock of high mountains could rip a pair to shreds in a few hours. Moss and silver tussock were sometimes packed in for insulation against snow and freezing cold. Tohunga raranga Cath Brown from Taumutu is one who kept the skills of making pāraerae alive among Ngāi Tahu people.

Mountain daisy marvel                                                                                           
Pākē tikumu, rainproof cape thatched with tikumu leaves (Celmisia Spendenii)
This pākē tikumu, or mountain daisy cape, is a tribute to scientific discovery in Aotearoa. As the ancestors of Ngāi Tahu traversed Te Waipounamu, they constantly investigated the whenua for foods and materials that would enhance their lives.

The discovery of tikumu, or mountain daisy, in high alpine valleys must have been an 'aha' moment for making rainwear. Its soft, thick, hairy underleaf shed water and would provide excellent protection in cold and wet weather. So tikumu were added to the weaver's kete of technological achievement. The hairy undersides were woven into capes to make thick rainproof layer to keep the traveller warm and dry in wind, rain and snow. This pākē tikumu is one of only three in the world. The original is held at Canterbury Museum.

Tussockland taonga
Pākē pātītī , rainproof cape thatched with silver tussock (poa cita) 
Kā Pākihi Wakatekateka o Waitaha (Canterbury Plains), were once a maze of dense erect tufts of pātītī (silver tussock). Ngāi Tahu ancestors put its shiny, stalk-like, water-shedding leaves to a variety of uses.

The pākē (raincoat cape) shows how the pātītī was used as a rain-shedding layer woven into the body of the kākahu. Pātītī was also used to thatch the roofs of whare. It was spread as a soft layer under sleeping mats on whare floors. It was packed for insulation into pāraerae (woven sandals) and bound into leg guards to protect travellers against thorny vegetation.

Weavers today visit taonga like this pākē to examine and learn from the skill and art of their making. And they pay homage to the artists whose handiwork continues to show them the way.  

Kākā keeper
Pōria kākā, leg ring for kaka (Nestor meridionalis) made of pounamu (greenstone).
This fine pounamu pōria kākā, or kākā leg ring, was fashioned to tether a mōkai (pet)  kākā. Its bird-hunting owner would have captured a young parrot and tamed it for use in the kākā hunting season. The parrot's leg fitted through the large hole, while its tether was fastened to the small hole.

The taonga was found on the shores of Te Waihora (Lake Ellesmere) by a local Pākehā farmer in the 1870s. It is a reminder of when the lake bordered densely forested hills, which would have run with the cries of large kākā flocks.

Kākā were hunted for their meat, but also for the red feathers of their under-wings, prized for use in weaving kahu huruhuru (feather cloaks). The hunter would take the mōkai kākā into the forest as a decoy, where its cries would lure its curious kin to come within range of spear or snare.