ANCIENT ART GALLERY

Taranaki Daily News, 14 October 1930, Page 7

ANCIENT ART GALLERY

DRAWINGS IN WEKA PASS. Steps are being taken to proclaim aS an historic reserve an area in the Weka Pass, Canterbury, which contains .an example of early Maori, or possibly Moriori, rock paintings. Before the cave was visited by Europeans it contained one of the most interesting collections of rock paintings in New Zealand and therefore is well worth restoring and preserving, says the Land Department’s annual- report on scenery preservation. The height of the shelter at its entrance is 9ft, and the back wall, which slopes inwards, is about 6ft. The rock is a very closely granulated limestone, which wears very slowly and takes a polish. The back wall of the shelter to a height of 6ft and a length of 66ft is covered in paintings. They represent grotesque forms of animals and men, the figures being some 2ft or 3ft in height, having been executed with an oil plant, possibly made from the black and red pigments mixed in bird-oil as commonly used by the Maori. The figures are now somewhat obliterated through the action of -weathering, fungoid growth, and also by limited damage by rubbing by stock and scribbling by picnic parties. It is hoped to have a fence erected, which will protect the shelter from stock and also to haveXthe figures repainted and restored while they are still decipherable.