Māori Legends

Legends of the Maori Volume 1 nā Tā Māui Pōmare i tuhituhi; ko James Cowan te etitā; nā Stuart Peterson kā whakaahua. Wellington, N.Z.: Harry H. Tombs, 1934.

Legends of the Maori is included here again as an early example of a published work about pūrākau written by Māori. This is an important step forward from the European interpretations of pūrākau in the cases to the left. Volume II contains Sir Māui Pōmare’s whakapapa. In this way he has embedded a Māori worldview into the text.

Both volumes were written as a collaboration between longtime friends Māui Pōmare and James Cowan (1870-1943) and more volumes were planned before the project was cut short by Pōmare’s death in 1930. During his final illness, Pōmare was said to still have been dictating material to be included in volume II as well as making suggestions regarding Cowan’s material for volume I.

James Cowan spoke te reo, was fascinated by te ao Māori and was an avid collector of anecdotes and oral histories. As with much of his writing, the tale he recounts here includes a backstory describing how he acquired the material, and from whom. Tiwake’s Leap showcases the beautiful illustrations by Stuart Petersen (1900-1976).

Legends of the Maori Volume 1 nā Tā Māui Pōmare i tuhituhi; ko James Cowan te etitā; nā Stuart Peterson kā whakaahua. Wellington, N.Z.: Harry H. Tombs, 1934.
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Legends of the Maori Volume 2 nā Tā Māui Pōmare i tuhituhi; ko James Cowan te etitā; nā Stuart Peterson kā whakaahua. Wellington, N.Z.: Fine Arts, 1930-1934.

Legends of the Maori Volume 2 nā Tā Māui Pōmare i tuhituhi; ko James Cowan te etitā; nā Stuart Peterson kā whakaahua. Wellington, N.Z.: Fine Arts, 1930-1934.
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Te Waiatatanga mai o te Atua : South Island traditions nā Tiramōrehu, Matiaha I tuhituhi; ko Man van Ballekom rāua ko Ray Harlow te etitā. Christchurch, N.Z. : Dept. of Maori, University of Canterbury, 1987.

We have included an edited and translated edition of the manuscript Te Waiatatanga mai o te Atua as a late addition to our exhibition. The original manuscript was written in 1849 by the well known Kāi Tahu tohunga Matiaha Tiramōrehu, of Moeraki (Ngāi Tūāhuriri, Ngāti Māmoe, Ngāi Tahu, c1800-1881) Tiramōrehu wrote the manuscript for Reverend Charles Creed. So, unlike the other items in this exhibition, this text was probably not originally intended for public consumption. However, this is an important text as it describes in print creation stories from a Kāi Tahu perspective. It is thought to be one of the earliest documents written by Māori in Te Waipounamu and provides a valuable example of Kāi Tahu dialect.. Although never published by Tiramōrehu, a large amount of the text was acquired by John White and can be found, largely unattributed, in volume one of his work The ancient history of the Maori, his mythology and traditions, published 1886.

Te Waiatatanga mai o te Atua : South Island traditions nā Tiramōrehu, Matiaha I tuhituhi; ko Man van Ballekom rāua ko Ray Harlow te etitā. Christchurch, N.Z. : Dept. of Maori, University of Canterbury, 1987.
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