TE TIKI O TAMAMUTU

The wharenui Te Tiki o Tamamutu was carved between 1860 and 1870 by renowned master carver Wero Taroi and assisted by a young Tene Waitere. Thought to be one of only two examples of wharenui by Wero left within New Zealand, Te Tiki o Tamamutu displays the distinctive and influential style of the carvers.

Originally commissioned by Chief Hohepa Tamamutu, Te Tiki o Tamamutu was subsequently sold to John Joshua for the sum of £150 pounds in the summer of 1886. It is believed that when first purchased it was in pieces. When Joshua assembled and erected it on its present site at the Spa Hotel, Taupo in 1886 he incorporated a quantity of new timber in its construction, but the main beams, the uprights and all the carvings are original.

Te Tiki o Tamamutu exemplifies Wero’s comprehensive and sophisticated understanding of the ancient practice of whakario. Carved at the end of Wero’s life, Te Tiki o Tamamutu is a masterpiece, testament to his excellence. Both Wero’s mana and his individual and distinct style of whakario are superbly demonstrated by the handling and treatment of carvings within this important wharenui. Te Tiki o Tamamutu can also be viewed as an emblem of the inspiration Wero provided to a new generation of carvers, reaching beyond the men that created it to the Rotorua, Ngāti Tarawhai school of whakario.

Te Tiki o Tamamutu is the only privately owned wharenui in existence. Due to its national importance the current owner wishes to divest themselves of the responsibility of guardianship. Expressions of interest are now being sought. For further information please contact Neil Campbell.

Te hei mauri ora.

Expressions of interest are now being sought. For further information please contact Neil Campbell

“Wero Taroi is usually considered the leader if not the originator of the so called “Okataina School” of carvers

based at Ruato, Rotoiti.” Carved Histories, Rotorua Ngāti Tarawhai Woodcarving,

Roger Neich, 2001. p54.

TE TIKI O TAMAMUTU

Wero Taroifl. 1860–1880Ngāti Tarawhai Master Carver

Known as Wero Taroi, Wero Mahikore, Karu and Wero, this master carver of Ngāti Tarawhai, Te Arawa, was one of the greatest Maori carvers whose work is now known. Few facts about Wero Taroi’s life have been recorded, yet, so great was his reputation as a carver, that the name Wero has been attached to several lesser known Te Arawa carvers who worked with him.

It is likely that Wero was born in the early years of the 19th century, in a Ngāti Tarawhai pā on Lake Okataina. His father was Mahikore and his mother Marukore, both of Ngāti Tarawhai. He traced his descent from Te Rangi-takaroro, through his third wife, Hinganga. He grew up at Okataina among the canoe builders and carvers of Ngāti Tarawhai. He learnt his craft from his two elder cousins, Te Amo-a-Tai and Tara Te Awatapu, at a time when European metal tools were replacing the stone adzes and greenstone blades of the past. All his known work was produced with the new metal tools. He is regarded as the originator and leader of the Okataina school of carvers based at Ruato, on the southern shores of Rotoiti. The school is named after his birthplace.

Ngāti Tarawhai had specialised in the production of large war canoes, supplying the needs of Te Arawa and of other tribes as far away as the Bay of Plenty, Hauraki and North Auckland. However, by the time Wero became recognised as a master carver in the late 1860s, war canoes were becoming obsolete. To maintain and assert their identity, many tribes had begun to build large, fully carved meeting houses. Wero and his kinsmen turned from canoe building to house carving.

In this period, Ngāti Tarawhai gradually migrated from their lands around Lake Okataina. Ruato, on Rotoiti, became one of their main dwelling places, close to the route between Rotorua and the coast. Wero often lived there, taking the lead in carving projects, and also gaining a reputation as a tohunga, skilled in ritual. His work took him to many parts of the Bay of Plenty and to the Taupo district. Carvers were usually paid for their work in cash as well as in goods and hospitality.

Wero was associated as a master carver with several houses, and many examples of his work are still to be seen. The first house called Rangitihi stood at Te Taheke, on the northern shore of Rotoiti. Most of its carvings are now in the Auckland War Memorial Museum, and one is in St Petersburg. Houmaitawhiti, the second house of that name, was shifted to Maketu and then returned to its original home, Otaramarae, also on the northern shore of Rotoiti. The first Hinemihi was at Te Wairoa, and survived the Tarawera eruption in 1886; what is left of it is now at Guildford, England. Wero carved a house for Arama Karaka Mokonui-a-rangi of

“Wero Taroi’s carving is outstanding for its wide repertoire of figure types and surface decoration, the deep, powerful relief of his

figures, and his skill in superimposing several layers of figures.”

Ngāti Rangitihi at Matata. This was later called Nuku-te-apiapi; some of its carvings have been placed in the Te Arawa Maori Trust boardroom in Rotorua, and others are in the Rotorua Museum. The house Uenuku-mai-rarotonga was built at Maketu and shifted to Punawhakareia marae at Rotoiti. Wero is also associated with [in addition to Te Tiki o Tamamutu at Taupo], the storehouse called Te Puawai-o-Te-Arawa at Maketu, and Tokopikowhakahau at Tapapa. On the earlier of these projects, Wero worked as part of a team with Te Amo-a-Tai, Tara Te Awatapu and other senior carvers. On later houses, Wero tended to work alone or with one pupil. His most illustrious pupils were Anaha Te Rahui and Tene Waitere.

Wero carved canoes and houses within his own tribal region, that of Te Arawa, stretching from Maketu to Tongariro. Although he must have had considerable contact with Europeans, Wero did not produce carved souvenirs for the developing tourist trade in Rotorua. No photographs are known, nor is the date of his death, which was probably in the early 1880s.

His total production represents the first complete flowering of the Ngāti Tarawhai house carving tradition. Through his pupils and his wider influence on later artists, Wero set the pattern for most subsequent Te Arawa woodcarving and ultimately for many aspects of the ‘national’ Maori carving style taught at the Rotorua School of Maori Arts and Crafts in the 1930s and 1940s.

Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Roger Neich. http://www.teara.govt.nz

Tene Waitere (b Mangamuka, nr Kaitaia, 1854; d Rotorua, Sept 1931).

Tene Waitere belonged to Ngāti Tarawhai, whose members were kin to Ngāti Pikiao and Tuhourangi of Te Arawa of Rotorua. His mother was Ani Pape, the daughter of Te Rahui, a prominent Ngāti Tarawhai leader. As a young girl, she was captured during the Ngāpuhi attack on Rotorua in 1823 and taken as a slave to North Auckland, where she was forcibly married to Waitere. Tene was born probably in 1853 or 1854 at Mangamuka.

When Tene was only a few years old an uncle brought Ani Pape and her two children back to Rotorua. They settled at Ruato, on Lake Rotoiti, where Tene was trained as a carver by Wero Taroi, the master carver of the Ngāti Tarawhai school. Although Tene may have worked on some of the last big carved canoes, he established his reputation by working with Wero, Anaha Te Rahui and Neke Kapua on several new meeting houses around Rotorua and Taupo.

Tene married Ruihi Te Ngahue of Tūhourangi. They often lived at Te Wairoa and Te Ariki with Ruihi’s people; he worked between times on houses with Wero and other Te Arawa carvers. They had one child, a daughter named Tuhipo (Rimupae). At the time of the Tarawera eruption in 1886, Tene and his family were living at Te Wairoa and were among the survivors who sheltered in the famous carved house, Hinemihi. The family were then given land at Ngapuna and Whakarewarewa by Ngāti Wahiao. Although times were hard, Tene managed to provide for his family through hunting, fishing and building. Later, his commercial carving activity became a main source of income.

The manager of the Geyser Hotel at Whakarewarewa, Charles E Nelson, employed Tene as a professional carver from 1892. In his workshop behind the hotel, he carved big pieces to decorate the hotel and thermal areas; he also carved tobacco pipes, walking sticks and replicas of traditional artefacts for sale to Europeans. Many distinguished visitors to Rotorua, including British royalty, were presented with his work. One major project on which he worked was the erection for Nelson of Rauru, a fully carved meeting house featuring legendary and mythical personalities chosen to illustrate the Rotorua legends that guides would tell to tourists. Rauru was sold in 1903, eventually going to the Museum für Völkerkunde in Hamburg. Nelson purchased a set of old Ngāti Tarawhai carvings in 1904, and employed Tene and Neke Kapua to complete a new meeting house, Nuku-te-apiapi, for his tourists. Tene was commissioned to produce meeting houses for knowledgeable Europeans; he soon developed a fairly standardised small meeting house that satisfied their needs.

Tene’s carvings show greater diversity than those of his contemporaries. He worked on [in addition to Te Tiki o Tamamutu], Kearoa, Rauru, Tuhoromatakaka, Uenukukopako, Tiki and Hinemihi. At the Whakarewarewa village, he carved the gateways, one of the houses named Hatupatu, a small storehouse, most of the stockade-post figures and an open, octagonal lookout shelter in the thermal area. He carved massive mantelpieces in the Grand Hotel, Auckland, and the Grand Hotel, Rotorua, and a panel of relief heads, a photograph of which was used in Augustus Hamilton’s book Maori Art. He

carved the shelter which stands over the bust of Queen Victoria at Ohinemutu and the ornamental gateway at Taupo waterfront.

As the commercial demand for tourist art and authentic replicas became intense in the later 1890s, Tene was by far the most prolific carver. His basic designs could be used repeatedly with slight variations to avoid the appearance of mass production. He took the opportunity provided by European patronage to produce some of the most innovative carvings yet seen at Rotorua. This work shows the influence of European concepts of time and space, and is naturalistic in a way impossible in his more orthodox productions. Tene carved figures in oblique profiles, or sprinting across a panel, their bodies twisting in the effort of running; he also experimented with various foreshortening effects, and with narrative scenes illustrating local tribal legends. He never used such innovation in work for Maori patrons. He ceased to carve for Europeans in about 1912, and after this, his work became more stylised and strictly orthodox.

Between 1902 and 1910, Tene was employed sporadically by the Department of Tourist and Health Resorts to produce carvings for the model Maori village being constructed at Whakarewarewa. In 1910, he went to Sydney with Maggie Papakura’s concert party to set up a model Maori village at Clontarf and to demonstrate carving to the visitors. When, in 1927, the School of Maori Arts and Crafts was established at Rotorua to train carvers and other artists, Tene Waitere was often consulted about matters of design and execution.

After the First World War, Tene designed war memorials for at least two marae. His last work was the design for a monument for his own daughter, erected at the home of his grand-daughter, Rangitiaria (Guide Rangi) at Whakarewarewa. Three weeks after the unveiling of this monument, on 28 August 1931, Tene died at Rangitiaria’s home. He was buried at Ngāti Tarawhai’s Ruato burial ground. The date of Ruihi Te Ngahue’s death has not been found.

According to Rangitiaria, Tene Waitere could not speak English and could neither read nor write. He joined the Ringatū faith while living at Ruato, and later carved Tiki, the Ringatu church-house at Ohinemutu. Tene brought up his daughter and two grand-daughters in a strict Ringatu household, observing all the correct tapu restrictions; yet he was also one of the first carvers to take some of the tapu off Maori woodcarving.

Photographs of Tene Waitere show a slight man with a drawn face, and convey the impression of a sensitive, serious personality. He did not play a major leadership role among Ngāti Tarawhai and may have been separated from tribal concerns by his employment by Europeans, his residence at Whakarewarewa, and the circumstances of his birth. He was, however, the most prominent carver of his time in the Rotorua area. His work was steeped in tradition, and preserved its integrity when faced with the commercial demands of European tourists and collectors.

Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Roger Neich. http://www.teara.govt.nz

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Te Tiki O Tamamutu

1. Poutokomanawa: Prestigious ancestral central pillar 2. Epa3. Poupou: Male figure with patiti (tomahawk) 4. Poupou: Male figure with mere pounamu5. Poupou: Male figure with low relief surface decoration on his face, known to the Arawa tribe as Pūhoro-it denotes the fleetness of this ancestor6. Poupou: Male figure with mere pounamu offering figurative face with complete moko7. Poupou: Male figure; relates to figure 218. Poupou: Male figure with taiaha9. Poupou: Female figure; relates to figure 19, possibly wife, sister or mother10. Poupou: Male figure; relates to figure 18, possibly brothers or comrades11. Poupou: Side-profiled ancestral figure12. Epa13. Epa14. Poutuarongo15. Epa16. Epa17. Poupou: Side profiled ancestral figure18. Poupou: Male figure with mere pounamu19. Poupou: Male figure.20. Poupou: Male figure with taiaha21. Poupou: Female figure with tiki and tuatara indicating high rank22. Poupou: Male figure with figurative face holding wahaika23. Poupou: Male figure.24. Poupou: Male figure with mere pounamu 25. Poupou: Male figure with mere pounamu 26. Poupou: Side profiled ancestral figure27. Epa28. Pou tāhuhu29. Epa30. Tāhuhu: The carving in the centre being part of the beam itself31. Pare32. Poupou: Male figure with mere pounamu33. Poupou: Male figure with wahaika34. Poupou: Side profiled ancestral figure35. Poupou: Side profiled ancestral figure36. Poupou: Male figure with kotiate37. Poupou: Male figure with mere pounamu38. Pańe39. Amo40. Amo41. Tekoteko42. Raparapa43. Raparapa44. Maihi45. Maihi

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“After Te Amo, Wero is the first of the great house carvers of Ngāti Tarawhai working

entirely in steel tool.”Carved Histories, Rotorua Ngāti Tarawhai

Woodcarving, Roger Neich, 2001. p 54.

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“Wero’s fame and artistic abilities led to the carvings of Arawa’s famous houses:

Houmai Tawhiti, Uenuku-mai rarotonga, Te Pokiha’s Pataka and Kawatapua.”

Spa Hotel, T A Heath, 1938. P5

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10 11,12

“His total production represents the first complete flowering of the Ngāti Tarawhai

house carving tradition. Through his pupils and his wider influence on later

artists, Wero set the pattern for most subsequent Te Arawa woodcarving

and ultimately for many aspects of the ‘national’ Maori carving style taught at the Rotorua School of Maori Arts and Crafts

in the 1930s and 1940s.”

Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Roger Neich. http://www.teara.govt.nz

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TE TIKI O TAMAMUTU

AVAILABLE FOR PRIVATE SALE

FOR FURTHER DETAILS CONTACT

NEIL CAMPBELL NCAMPBELL@WEBBS.CO.NZ

“Wero was associated with such men of skill as Patoromu, Tara and Amo, priests of the tapu era, who worked and planned

everything in conjunction with being celestial, terrestrial and sub-terrestrial.”

Spa Hotel, T A Heath, 1938. P5

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