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Story: Fire and agriculture

Fern garden, Mt MacKay

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Fern garden, Mt MacKay

Julius Haast’s painting of Mt MacKay at Lake Rotoroa illustrates Māori agricultural burning practice. The fern garden in the foreground could only have been maintained by regular burning, to prevent the nearby forest from reclaiming it.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: A-108-034

by Johann Franz Julius von Haast

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

Robert Peden, Fire and agriculture – Fire and Māori agriculture, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/15205/fern-garden-mt-mackay (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Robert Peden, published 1 March 2009.