Context (Display)
Presumably only two of the six panels were on on display in CUMAA anthropology galleries prior to 1986 and at least from 1975. (cf. Kemp: 1975)
Event Date
Author: rachel hand

Context (Acquisition Details)
Part of a collection of Maori items taonga on Thursday 4th July 1901 at J.C. Stevens’ Auction Rooms, 38 King Street, Covent Garden. The catalogue of this sale is held in the Museum’s Archives, archive no OA4/6/2 .

Under the heading ‘Maori Curios’, it gives the following extract from the Wanganui Herald of Feb. 20th 1901:
'A very valuable collection of historic Maori curios, one of the finest held by any private individual in the colony, has just been disposed of in Wanganui. We understand that the collection is to be exhibited throughout Australia and the Old Country. It is regrettable that such interesting relics of the Maori race, which in a few years will be almost as scarce as the Moa, are allowed to leave the colony. The price paid has not been divulged, but it runs into hundreds of pounds.’ p.7
After this quotation, the catalogue notes: ‘(The above paragraph refers to this Collection.)’
It goes on: ‘(COPY OF DECLARATION) “I, William Edward Goffe, Government Land Purchaser Wanganui, do solemnly swear that the following curios are as represented in every detail. Sworn at Wanganui, New Zealand, before F.M. Spurdle, J.P., 19 Feb., 1901.” - Extract from the WANGANUI HERALD of Wednesday February 20th, 1901’.
These pieces made up Lot 173, described in the Catalogue (p.11) as: ‘Six pieces of the inside lining of the great meeting house of Rannana [sic], of great age and very rare’.
'Ranana' is the Maori version of 'London', and was the name of a village on the Wanganui River in the North Island of New Zealand.
Record checked and revised by Amiria Salmond, (2001.10.11).
Event Date 1901
Author: Rachel Hand

Description (Physical description)
Stevens’ Catalogue 1901: ‘Six pieces of the inside lining of the great meeting house of Rannana [sic], of great age and very rare’.
Event Date 1901
Author: rachel hand

Description (Labels & Markings)
Old object label affixed to card: ‘E.1901.103 Reed lining from the walls of Meeting House.... New Zealand. (Bt. Stevens’ sale, 1901) Purchased, 1902.’
Event Date 1902
Author: rachel hand

Description (Physical description)
Six oblong sections of rush-work from the ornamental inner lining of the walls of the meeting-house at Ranana.’
Annual Report 1903:14. No. 619.

Event Date 1903
Author: rachel hand

Description (Physical description)
"These two panels are exhibited to show both sides of a panel, the front or viewing side and the back or 'working' side. The design can be seen on the front or right hand panel, while the technique of construction and lashing can be seen on the left hand panel. The frames are essentially lattice panel made of vertical 'taitoi' stalks ('kakaho'), being dressed in front by flat, horizontal laths ('kaho').
(These two panels, however, are exhibited lying on their sides so the order seems reversed). Short strips of fibrous material, either flax (formium tenax), 'kiekie' and/or 'pungao' are threaded through the lattice, in this case in simple cross stitches. As one strip is used up, another is tied to the end and the stitching continues. The untidy knotting is not visible from the front.
The two panels here exhibited appear to come from the same house as their dimensions are identical, the technique is the same and the pattern seems to be the same. The pattern in this case is the step pattern ('poutama'), seen in the panel to the right. It is presented very simply in alternating rows of black and white. The stitching throughout is the simple cross stitch, though more complex stitching is frequently employed in this craft. It is difficult to say without closer inspection whether the fibrous material is flax or 'kiekie' , probably the latter. The white colouring is produced by bleaching in boiling water and the black is mud dyed by immersion after bleaching.
In the panel to the right the white stitches are affected by mould and are not clearly visible. These two panels employ a technique not now used for setting up the lattice frames. The vertical ('kakako') stalks do not appear to be independently lashed in pairs but bound by the same stitches as form the pattern.
The vertical ('kaho') laths are adzed timbers of remarkable evenness and coated with red which is probably red ochre and shark oil, and not of European manufacture. Present day panels incorporate different techniques and utilise European paint and factory machined timber for the 'kaho' . This is a good example of later 19th century 'tukutuku' work."

(Note from B. Kernot, 29 1 1975, made when two of the panels were on display in CUMAA. Mr Bernie Kernot was Senior Lecturer in the Dept of Anthropology at Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand. He visited CUMAA in Spetember 1974 and January 1975 to examine the Maori material, especially the Cook paddles and later wood carvings

Event Date 29/1/1975
Author: maa

Description (Physical description)
Card (1): ‘Oblong sections of rush-work. Panels in wall of house, often set between carved slabs. from the inner lining of the walls of the meeting house at Rahana [sic].’
Card (2): ‘Six oblong sections of rush work from the ornamental inner lining of the walls of the meeting house at Ranana.’
Card (3): Reed panelling from the walls of a meeting house’
Event Date 2/7/1993
Author: maa

Context (References)
Gerrard Albert and Che Wilson (June 2006) Whanganui Taonga Iwi Report. University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology (CUMAA) Field Work: March-May 2006.
Event Date 2006
Author: rachel hand

Context (Amendments / updates)
It is also noted that photo’s from the 1880s of the interior of two other wharepuni [Note 9] in two settlements downstream from Huriwhenua are also of the poutama pattern
The backing of the panel is kākaho (stem of toetoe) and the front of the panel is wooden slats.
Back of all panels are finished in an untidy way. This is unusual for any Māori weaving art according to weaving expert DR Te Kanawa [Note 10] The untidy nature conjures up thoughts that these panels may not be in their original state and therefore may have been re-weaved by an inexperienced person
There are no tūmatakahuki (raised borders) on any of the tukutuku panels
Panels are very fragile
Photo’s of the 1880s, taken by Burton of this whare rūnanga show the tukutuku from the mahau (outside porch) as an inverted kaokao pattern which support the statement from the Stevens Catalogue that these tukutuku panels are from the inside of this whare rūnanga

[Note 9] Phillipps, WJ, Carved Māori Houses of the Western and Northern Areas of New Zealand, RE Owen Government Printer, Wellington, 1955, pp85-100.
[Note 10] Te Kanawa, Diggeress Rangituatahi (Tohunga Raranga) – Interview 03/06/06, Ōparure, Te Kuiti, North Island, NZ.
Quoted from Albert and Wilson, June 2006:21
Event Date 6/2006
Author: rachel hand

Context (Other owners)
Tukutuku ‘A’ from Huriwhenua (meeting house) Whare Rūnanga of Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui (also known as Major Kemp,.d.1898).
Te Rangihiwinui was a chief of Muaūpoko, Ngāti Apa and Whanganui who joined the Armed Police Force and fought in campaigns against the Hauhau, Te Kooti and Tītokowaru during the 1860s.


Event Date 26/10/2022
Author: rachel hand

Description (Physical description)
Albert and Wilson (2006:21) ref only to the Poutama pattern – Stairway to the Heavens on A.
It is unclear if this pattern is repeated on the other five panels B-F, but Kernot (1975) refers to at least 2 panels in the same poutama design
Event Date 26/10/2022
Author: rachel hand