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Story: European discovery of plants and animals

Moa bones

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Moa bones

The missionary and naturalist William Colenso published these drawings with an article entitled ‘An account of some enormous fossil bones, of an unknown species of the class aves, lately discovered in New Zealand’ in the Tasmanian Journal of Natural Science in 1846. The bones were presented to him by Māori at Waiapu on the East Coast. Colenso was one of many gentlemen scientists in New Zealand at the time – amateurs with an interest in a natural world very different from that of Europe.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: William Colenso, ‘An account of some enormous fossil bones, of an unknown species of the class Aves.’ The Tasmanian Journal of Natural Science 2, no. 7 (1846): 91 facing (S-L 674-91)

by William Colenso

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

John Andrews, European discovery of plants and animals – Sealers, missionaries and botanists, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/10950/moa-bones (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by John Andrews, published 1 March 2009.