Kōrero: Thermal pools and spas

For generations, Māori have used thermal waters for medicinal purposes, especially to treat skin complaints and rheumatic diseases. This oil painting by John Philemon Backhouse shows Māori people bathing in two small thermal pools near the edge of Lake Rotorua about 1880. The title, ‘Old painkiller bath, Te Kauwhanga Point, Rotorua’, makes clear the therapeutic properties of the waters.