Research On Ancient Moriori Carvings In Chatham Islands

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27688, 18 June 1955, Page 9

Research On Ancient Moriori Carvings In Chatham Islands

Copying carvings cut on kopi trees by the Moriori peapie on the Chatham Islands has been a full-time job for Miss Christina Jefferson (Auckland), author of a memoir on this form of Moriori art. Miss Jeffer. on recently returned from her sixth v it to the Chatham Islands, where she spent her time working in remote areas, the only parts of the islands where remains of the Moriori people are to be found. During h«r last stay on the islands, Miss Jefferson copied between 30 and 40 tree carvings, and now has a collection of nearly 500 drawings. Her memoir, now completed after several years’ research and the technical work of copying carvings, will be published by the Polynesian Society in its journal. “Evidence of Moriori occupation in the Chatham Islands is seen in the large heaps of pipi shells or kitchen middens, and in the carvings on the kopi trees nearby,” Miss Jefferson said in Christchurch. “The art typified in these carvings is entirely different from that of the Maori, and shows many stages from extreme stylisation and simplification to interesting realism in what was, perhaps, later work. Differences From Maori Art “One of the differences between Moriori and Maori carving is that the Moriori made no attempt to fill in a given area With design, but depicted bird, fish and human figures sometimes in isolation or in what seems to be picture form.” Little remained of Moriori carving on wood, but the Dominion Museum had a barge board on which figures of birds were represented, Miss Jefferson said. “Many of the Moriori carvings are on dead kopi trees, the bark of which is constantly falling off through exposure to the extremes of weather in the Chatham Islands,” she said. “Other trees are blown down in winter storms and many more, though apparently

dead, would continue to grow but all their young shoots are eaten by stock and opossums. My concern in copying the carvings cut on the crisp kopi bark is to record them for posterity. “The homes of the Moriori seem to have been in sheltered parts of the beautiful karaka forest—a forest that is very little known even by many islanders themselves, because it is off the beaten track, and is fast dying out,” said Miss Jefferson. “The karaka forest is unique and entirely different from any of the forests in New Zealand. I feel that an attempt should be made to preserve some of it.” Stay in Remote Huts On the Chatham Islands, Miss Jefferson lived in huts and old dwellings, now used only by runholders and their men when visiting outlying regions to attend to stock. Her only -means of transport to these out-of-the-way parts was by horse, but this was no hardship to Miss Jefferson, who likes horses and caring for them. With her keen interest in museums, Jefferson is always alive to the value of articles that were in common use among whalers and early settlers on the island. On her last trip she procured a blubber hook from the sailing ship Franklin, which was wrecked on Pitt Island about 100 year ago. This hook was given to her by Mr Hamish Hunt, of Pitt Island, and is now at the Canterbury Museum. “It is difficult to live long on the Chathams without becoming intensely interested in the islanders and their way of life, and I hope some day they will have a museum of their own.” said Miss Jefferson. Miss Jefferson brought back to Christchurch a large number of photographs of Mrs T. Nielsen’s family and other early settlers on the islands. These photographs are now stored in the Canterbury Museum, and will be returned to the Chatham Islands when a museum is established there.