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Story: Opera and musical theatre

'Come canoeing down the Wanganui'

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'Come canoeing down the Wanganui'

The light opera, Marama: the mere and the Maori maid, was a triumph when it was performed by Frederick Augustus Bennett's Maori Opera Company in 1920. As a result songs from the opera, such as 'Come canoeing down the Wanganui', were sold as sheet music. 

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: Archibald Don and Henry Sydney Buttle Ribbands, Come canoeing down the Wanganui. Hastings: Ribbands and Don, 1920 (B-K-1072-COVER)

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

Lindis Taylor, Opera and musical theatre – Composers, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/ephemera/41896/come-canoeing-down-the-wanganui (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Lindis Taylor, published 18 June 2013.