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Story: Māori weaving and tukutuku – te raranga me te whatu

Pounding flax

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Pounding flax

This woman is beating muka (flax fibre) in the porch of a meeting house at Mataatua, Bay of Plenty, around 1910. She has placed a rolled-up length of muka on a piece of wood, to pound it with a round club. A number of whāriki (woven flax floor mats) are visible on the porch. 

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: PA1-o-042-20-2

by Thomas Pringle

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

Kahutoi Te Kanawa, Māori weaving and tukutuku – te raranga me te whatu – The art of te whare pora, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/43474/pounding-flax (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Kahutoi Te Kanawa, published 6 December 2013.