Story: Whakairo – Māori carving

This incomplete pātaka (food storehouse), built around 1750, once stood at Maraenui in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, and was later dismantled and hidden in caves near Te Kaha. It is perhaps the finest surviving example of the Te Whānau-ā-Apanui carving style, which resembles the style of Te Arawa rather than that of the neighbouring Ngāti Porou people. This pātaka was a central feature of the 1984 Te Māori international exhibition of Māori art.