Audio file
When Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sailed into Golden Bay on 18 December 1642, he and his crew were greeted by the call of what may have been a pūtātara (shell trumpet). They responded by sounding baroque trumpets. Pūtātara were made from native conch shells, and more rarely exotic triton shells, which occasionally washed up on New Zealand beaches.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Reference: ME003937
Courtesy of Richard Nunns and Bob BickertonPermission of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa must be obtained before any re-use of this image.