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Kōrero: Moriori

Three generations of the Solomon family

Audio file

In this extract from a radio documentary, Māui Solomon talks about the peaceful stand taken by the Moriori people after Māori tribes arrived at Rēkohu in 1835, and its devastating consequences.

The image shows Māui (centre) holding his son Kahu beside a statue of their ancestor Tommy Solomon. When Tommy Solomon died in 1933 it was believed by many that the Morori ‘race’ was doomed. It was many years before it was widely accepted that Moriori were not a separate race, but a Polynesian people like the Māori.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Reference: 5204

Image: Private collection, MR891106, by Denise Davis

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Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Denise Davis rāua ko Māui Solomon, Moriori – The impact of new arrivals, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/speech/1693/three-generations-of-the-solomon-family (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Denise Davis rāua ko Māui Solomon, i tāngia i te 4 March 2009, updated 1 March 2017.