Story: Exhibitions and world’s fairs

Te Takinga pātaka

Te Takinga pātaka

This pātaka (carved storehouse) was displayed amid toetoe (large grasses) and ferns at the 1888 Melbourne Centennial Exhibition. It had originally been carved in the 1850s for Ngāti Pikiao and stood at the Lake Rotoiti settlement of Taheke. Naturalist Walter Buller took possession of the pātaka and sent it to the 1886 Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London. It was then transported to Melbourne before finding a home for some years at Buller's estate on Lake Papaitonga, near Levin. In the 2000s the pātaka was on display at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: PAColl-6585-51
Photograph by John William Lindt

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:

Jock Phillips, 'Exhibitions and world’s fairs - International exhibitions, 1862 to 1900', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/45426/te-takinga-pataka (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Jock Phillips, published 22 Oct 2014