HISTORY OF THE MOA

Southland Times, Issue 24163, 27 June 1940, Page 14

HISTORY OF THE MOA

MR J. H. SORENSEN’S ADDRESS

A feature of the social evening held by the Southland members of the New Zealand Deerstalkers’ Association last night was a short address on the moa by the curator of the Southland Museum (Mr J. H. Sorensen). The moa had been extinct for about 250 or 300 years, he said. It first became known to science when a traveller from New Zealand took in 1839 a fragment of bone which had been given him by the Maoris in the North Island to a distinguished scientist, Professor Richard Owen, who pronounced it as part of the skeleton of a “bird larger than the ostrich.” There had been 20 different species from 16ft to 3ft in size. The eggs of the larger species were nearly as big as a Rugby football. Moa bones were to be found in Southland in the sand hills fronting the Oreti Beach and in any locality near the coast where the prevailing wind stripped away the sand, added Mr Sorensen.

Moving pictures of a deer-stalking trip through the Albertburn and Matukituki district undertaken by Messrs A. Cowie, R. and C. Herron, together with pictures of a demonstration of bulldozers in action and of a trip through the South Island were shown by Mr F. Lange.