Faye Hill on crusade — to preserve Moriori tree carvings

Press, 6 September 1980, Page 15

Faye Hill on crusade — to preserve Moriori tree carvings

By

KARREN BEANLAND

Ancient tree carvings found onlv in the Chat* ham Islands, the work of the relatively forgotten race of the Morions, have been the subject of a quiet crusade over the past 18 months.- . The carvings are known by the formidable name “dendroglyph,” which literally means tree carving. Incised on the bark of karaka trees, they are the last remaining traces of the now extinct Moriori people. One of the leaders in the attempt to have the dendroglyphs protected is Mrs Faye Hill, an artist who lives at Akaroa. Her crusade, involving innumerable letters and visits to Government departments, has met with success after the recent establishment of - a 36-hec-tare reserve in Hanson Bay. The land was given by Barker Brothers, Ltd, of Kaingaroa. Faye Hill’s interest in the dendroglyphs started when she first saw them last year. The tree carvings were different from anything she had seen before. “I was excited because they were an art belonging to a race which had had such rough treatment. Also, they had been so knocked' about without anybody doing anything about it,” she says. “They haven’t come into our his-

tory the way fhey should have.” It is believed that the Chathams once had thousands of the carvings, which are estimated to be 700 or 800 years old. When Miss Christina Jefferson made several visits to the Chathams between 1949 and 1955, she recorded 1145 dendroglyphs. Now, Faye Hill fears that fewer than 300 may remain. The numbers have dwindled so drastically because the karaka trees, known as kopi trees in the Chathams, have been felled to clean land and for fire wood. Ironically, the Morioris used the karaka trees for carving because they had better supplies of firewood. . However, the main, damage has been'caused' by' stock which eat new growth under the trees. Without .this protection, against wind and sun, the carvings deteriorate rapid; ly. . Mrs Hill says that “mainlanders’’ have also been known . to cut, down the trees to. take the carvings for garden decorations. Probably the most im» portant thing for the preservation of the dendroglyphs in the short term is to have the main stands of bush where they are found fenced off from

stock and made m*- 0 reserves. ' , Hapupu, the reserve given by Barker Brothers, is one of the main sites. In 1963, Mr D. R. Simmons, then assistant director and curator of ethnology at the Auckland Museum, recorded about 400 carvings in the area. Another 140 carvings were counted in Taia, which is already a reserve and has been fenced. He recorded

180 in a third site at Makeroa. But when Mr G. S. ( Park, who is now the director of the Auckland Museum, visited the Chathams to prepare a report for the New Zealand Historic Places Trust in 1976, the trees had disappeared. Attempts to protect the dendroglyphs have had a checkered history. Some years ago, the Weisner Brothers offered several hundred acres of land, which included a stand of the carved karaka trees, to the Lands and Survey Department, with the proviso that the area be fenced. Although fencing material was sent to the Chathams, the fence was never built so the brothers finally withdrew their offer. Faye Hill is not sure how many carvings would now be left on the site.

Mrs. Hill says that there are probably other odd dendroglyphs . scattered about the island, but they are particularly vulnerable to damage. Surprisingly little is known about the carvings.. The figures were etched or incised into the bark of the trees, and some people believe a stain may have been used to darken them. The most common shape is that of the human figure. Birds, fish, eels, and seal forms are the next most common. The human figures, frequently with a heart shaped head, are often decorated. Miss Jefferson, who spent 77 nights alone in the bush and walked and rode thousands of miles to sketch the carvings even though she was past retiring age, praised the craftsmanship. . “Birds and fish, both re-

alistic and stylised, provide as interesting carvings as any found. Many stand out in their grace and workmanship. Fish seem to swim and birds seem to fly round the trees on which they are carved, and many of the bird glyphs show a sureness of line, such definite intention and such ease in execution that is unexpected in the work of a primitive man with stone jtools,” she wrote in her book, “The Dendroglyphs of the Chatham Islands,” published in 1956.. Although some have similarities, with Maori cave drawings and with cave paintings by New South Wales Aboriginals Faye Hill says the carvings are unlike any other Pacific art she has seen. Various reasons for the execution of the carvings have been put forward. One suggestion was that the marks indicated ownership of a tree. Another was that the carvings represented skeletons. A third was that they marked the dwellings of good or evil spirits.

However, Dr H. D. Skinner, who -studied the dendrogiyphs during the . 19205, discounted these suggestions. He favoured the view that the carvings were commemorative.

In his book “The Morioris of the Chatham Islands,” published in 1928, Dr Skinner quoted the only recorded instance of a dendroglyph being carved. When his wife and child were murdered, a Moriori

named Menui placed the bodies in a cave and afterwards carved figures of the two on a karaka tree.

This story supports the view that the carvings were commemorative.However, Miss Jefferson believed that they could also represent living individuals. They were not intended to be portraits, but showed the idipsyncracies of a person in a similar way to a cartoon. Miss Jefferson told how an old part-Moriori woman had looked at her drawings of the carvings as though they were photographs. She commented on a “nice little face” or a “pretty thing” as if they were people she knew.

Miss Jefferson wrote that the dendroglyphs were carved on trees in a circular area around an open space. The . karaka trees created an arbour, under

which the Morioris, who did not have permanent dwellings, lived. Mrs Hill says that the neglect and “wanton destruction” of the dendroglyphs is a grave indictment of New Zealanders. With others who have been working to save the carvings, she believes that the trees must be proctected before they follow the fate of the race that created them. Archaeological evidence

indicates that the .Morioris arrived in the Chathams in the thirteenth century, either from other parts of New Zealand, or had migrated directly from Polynesia. “New Zealand’s Heritage” says the Morioris descended from the same stock as the New Zealand Maoris, but that they were totally isolated and developed as a separate race, with their own language and culture. The Chathams were “discovered” by Europeans in 1791. Weakened by disease from contact with sailors and whalers, the nonaggressive Moriori were simply wiped out when the Maoris “invaded” the Chathams in 1835. Considered to be an inferior race, the Morioris were either killed and eaten or taken for slaves. In about 1800, there

were an estimated 2000 Morioris on the Chathams., In ,1848 there were only 268; by 1889 numbers had dwindled to, 27. Tommy Solomon, the last full blooded Moriori, died in 1933. A massive man, only five feet eight inches in height but weighing about 32 stone, he was pulled about the island on a sledge. Physically, the Morioris looked very different from Maoris. They were said to be more Asiatic-looking, and early writers mention that some had “Jewish” noses. Mrs Hill says that there were two types of Moriori: those living in the south were* short and thick-set, with fuzzy hair those living in the north were slightly built, with straight hair. Faye Hill says that the fencing of areas to protect the carvings is only a short-term measure. It will give more time so research can be done, but in the long term some means to proetct them from the elements will have to be found. Examples of the dendrdglyphs are held in museums in the four main centres. However, Mr Park points out that they are difficult to conserve even in museums, it is better to preserve them on their site. “The significance of the carvings has a lot to do with .their situation, and their beauty can only really be appreciated in

the bush," he adds. Although Faye Hill’s crusade has already met with success, she does not intend to stop, her efforts. The next steps depend largely on finance. One of the major priorities will be to do further, research and to get a full count of the surviving carvings. She also plans an exhibition, which may tour the country late next year. She has also made approaches to the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation. New Zealand is in the process of becoming a signatory to the Unesco World Heritage convention,, which aims to protect important monuments and sites. If New Zealand accedes to the convention, a list of important New Zealand places will be added tq the World Heritage list. Faye Hill hopes the Chatham Island dendroglyphs will be included. The secretary of the national commission for Unesco' (Mr G. S. Knox) says that New Zealand would have a moral obligation to protect the carvings if they were included in the list. A “spin off’ advantage would be that they would become more widely known, which would encourage research. If that happens the dendroglyphs, “mute reminders of the culture’of this almost forgotten folk”, as Miss Jefferson called them, may have a brighter future.