Story: Ideas about Māori origins

Centennial stamp, 1940

Centennial stamp, 1940

The artist who created this stamp had no doubt viewed the painting ‘The arrival of the Maoris in New Zealand’, by Louis J. Steele and Charles Goldie. In 1940 it was believed that the Great Fleet had arrived in 1350 CE. Ethnologist Percy Smith had calculated this date by counting back through the generations related in Māori oral histories.

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New Zealand Post
Reference: 1940 Centenary of Proclamation of British Sovereignty stamp issue

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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/postage-stamp/1705/centennial-stamp-1940 (accessed 30 March 2024)

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