Story: European discovery of New Zealand

Tamils have long been seafarers and traders in the Indian Ocean, and it is believed that they reached northern Australia by the 14th century. The missionary explorer William Colenso found this bell, probably in 1841, in Northland, where it had reportedly been used by Māori as a cooking vessel for generations. Inscribed on it in Tamil are the words ‘Mohoyideen Buk’s ship’s bell’. The bell is now held at the national museum, Te Papa. Theories abound, but the origins of the bell and how it got to New Zealand remain mysterious.