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Kōrero: Early mapping

Surveying in the South Island

Image
Surveying in the South Island

Walter Mantell drew these sketches during his 1848 journey from Kaiapoi to Dunedin. Mantell was responsible for setting aside reserves of land for the Ngāi Tahu tribe within the recently purchased Canterbury block. Clockwise from top left: a squashed hat; either Mantell or his assistant Malmanche looking through a theodolite; a Māori food storage platform; two men taking bearings across a river, with a theodolite.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: E-334-089

by Walter Baldock Durrant Mantell

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.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Melanie Lovell-Smith, Early mapping – Mapping for settlement, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/artwork/10793/surveying-in-the-south-island (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Melanie Lovell-Smith, i tāngia i te 1 March 2009.