White Terraces, Lake Rotomahana, 1890

White Terraces, Lake Rotomahana, 1890

This oil painting shows the famed silica terraces which were colonial New Zealand’s premier tourist attraction. The White Terraces were known as Te Tarata (the tattooed rock). The Pink Terraces, known as Ō-tū-kapua-rangi (fountain of the clouded sky), were smaller and lower. Tourists were taken to the terraces in whaleboats or canoes. When the terraces were destroyed in the Tarawera eruption of 1886, many Te Arawa lost jobs as the tourist trade dried up.