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Story: Seafood

Drying fish

Image
Drying fish

This watercolour, ‘Aorere, Golden Bay’, was painted in the early 1840s by an unknown artist (perhaps James Swinton Spooner). It shows Māori drying fish (including a stingray) on elevated racks.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: C-030-019

by unidentified artist

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.

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How to cite this page

Maggy Wassilieff, Seafood – Early Māori and settler diets, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/5095/drying-fish (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Maggy Wassilieff, published 2 March 2009.