Kōrero: Chatham Islands

Early Moriori carved designs – dendroglyphs – of people and their surroundings on kopi (karaka) trees. Nicole Whaitiri, aged 10, who is of Moriori descent, looks at this example in 2010. Such carvings are estimated to be up to 300 years old. The trees, and therefore the carvings, are unlikely to survive much longer due to disease and wind erosion. A joint Department of Conservation and University of Otago team digitally scanned 98 carvings on 93 trees as a way to preserve them.