Canoe Prow Board

Carved prow (tauihu) of war canoe (waka taua). This carved prow piece for a Māori war canoe is of the pītau style, which features two large pierced scrolls and, at the front, a carved figure with tongue protruding and arms thrown back. Sticking out the tongue was, and is, a Māori gesture of defiance.

A brass plate declaring it to be "a relic of the Māori invasion of Queen Charlotte Sound" has been removed.

According to Māori tradition, New Zealand (Aotearoa) was settled by a fleet of seagoing canoes. An iwi (Tribal Nation) might refer to itself as a waka (canoe), meaning that the members of the group were descended from the crew of a particular, named canoe. The Māori war canoe (waka taua) was not only a vessel used to transport warriors, but a sacred symbol of the village that built it. The waka taua was also seen as a manifestation of the collective body and spirit of the ancestors and of the power (mana) transmitted from them to the community.