Story: Ideas about Māori origins

‘The legend of the voyage to New Zealand’

‘The legend of the voyage to New Zealand’

This romantic oil painting of 1912 shows a fleet of double-hulled, ocean-going canoes hauling ashore in New Zealand from a still lagoon. Images such as this helped to popularise the myth of a Great Fleet for decades.

Using this item

Auckland Art Gallery – Toi o Tāmaki
Oil painting by Kennett Watkins

Permission of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page:

K. R. Howe, 'Ideas about Māori origins - 1920s–2000: new understandings', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/artwork/1596/the-legend-of-the-voyage-to-new-zealand (accessed 9 May 2024)

Story by K. R. Howe, published 8 Feb 2005