Title

Polynesian Vikings.

Author

McMahon, Marie.

Source

[Not applicable]

Publication date

1987

Type

About the work

Language

English

Country of context

Australia

Full text

Polynesian vikings.
by Marie McMahon

Statement:

These prints are about the colonization of Aotearo/New Zealand. They were based on historical works, in particular Donna Awatere's Maori Sovereignity.

Kumara (sweet potato) is a staple food crop of the Pacific. In Aotearoa, kumara storage pits “provided for seasonal growing and a year-round food supply”. By 1830 the produce from Maori cultivation was being exported to Australia, as “the Maori were extremely successful horticulturalists and traders”.

The bouquet of roses represents the introduction of European farming methods and the Pakeha colonists who cleared the bush “replacing lush life-supporting forests with inch high grass. Aotearoa became New Zealand...”

The bones refer to the history of the Maori in Aotearoa where “from a Maori point of view. . . the past the present and the future are one”. The bones also refer to the effects of colonization which caused the Maori population to diminish “from 250,000 to 40,000 by 1900...”

Maungakiekie (One Tree Hill), the landform in the prints, is a terraced pa in Tamaki Makarau - now suburban Auckland. An estimated 4000-5000 Maori lived and worked on Maungakiekie during the time of Kiwi Tamaki. Fertile slopes surrounding the volcanic cone were cultivated with kumara and taro. The hill now has an obelisk at its summit.

Maori attempts to regain rights to their land and fisheries are continuing in what Donna Awatere describes as a war, “the proportions of which become more evident as the past is revealed”.

Reference: Donna Awatere, “Maori Sovereignity”, Auckland: Broadsheet, 1984

© Marie McMahon, 1987.
Extract from Shocking Diversity, Sydney: Australian Print Council, 1987, p.13.

Last Updated

26 Sep 2020