Story: Māori architecture – whare Māori

Pātaka, 1840s

Pātaka, 1840s

The English artist and explorer George French Angas sketched these pātaka (storehouses) in the early 1840s. The two elaborately carved structures were in the Taupō region. They are likely to have been used for storing the food or other possessions of a chief or other important members of the tribe. The small pātaka at upper left, found at Ahuahu near present-day New Plymouth, appears to have been made from a hollow log. The one at lower right is a roofed-over section of a canoe hull. These pātaka have not been decorated and were probably used to store goods of no special value.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: PUBL-0014-30
Lithograph by George French Angas

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.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page:

Deidre Brown, 'Māori architecture – whare Māori - First Māori buildings', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/artwork/45734/pataka-1840s (accessed 19 April 2024)

Story by Deidre Brown, published 22 Oct 2014