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Story: Perceptions of the landscape

Māori whare, 1870s

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Māori whare, 1870s

This family is standing outside a whare puni (small communal sleeping house) at Mangaakuta, near Masterton. The story of the demigod Māui fishing up the North Island from a waka (canoe) has been painted on the house’s bargeboards. Landscapes were seldom pictured directly in Māori art.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, James Bragge Collection

Reference: 1/2-004136; F

by James Bragge

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

Jock Phillips, Perceptions of the landscape – Ways of looking, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/14131/maori-whare-1870s (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Jock Phillips, published 1 March 2009.