When gold was discovered on the Coromandel Peninsula in 1852, Europeans met with Māori to discuss mining and prospecting their lands. In this 1940s interview John Edgar (born in 1874) talks about Māori attitudes towards mining.
Transcript
Interviewer: How about the Māoris in those days?
Oh there wasn't many knocking around here, they were all back over to Kikowhakarere was Māoris in Kikowhakarere and Koputauaki and in Papa-aroha(?). A good few Māoris there. Tiki and Manaia out the Tiki out there. There was a good few out there, then there was the Manaia and then Whangapoua over here. The Māori's didn't go in for mining because they didn't like being underground. They said, plenty time later on for being underground. And well they used to come in and bring kumaras and fish and all that.
Using this item
Reference: 4945
Image: Alexander Turnbull Library, Charles Heaphy, PUBL-0033-1853-465
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