Skip to main content

Story: Māori rock art – ngā toi ana

Rock drawings in Weka Pass, 1876

Image
Rock drawings in Weka Pass, 1876

This painting is by Dunedin artist Thomas Selby Cousins, who was commissioned by Julius Haast, director of the Canterbury Museum, to record the region's Māori rock art. It shows a group of Māori in front of a limestone shelter in the Weka Pass area of North Canterbury. Under the natural overhang of the shelter are drawings of several canoes and fish. A large proportion of Māori rock art was produced on limestone shelters like this one.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: G-391

by Thomas Selby Cousins

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.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Brian Allingham, Māori rock art – ngā toi ana – Who were the rock artists?, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/45521/rock-drawings-in-weka-pass-1876 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Brian Allingham, published 6 June 2014.