Tahere Tikitiki - The Making of a Maori Canoe (1974) (B&W)
Channel: Archives New Zealand
Date: 2020-11-20

New Zealand's National Film Unit presents There Tikitiki - The Making of a Maori Canoe (1974)

B&W version.

By command of the Māori Queen, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu, the men of the Turangawaewae Marae, Ngāruawāhia, built a “Waka Taua” - a war canoe. Designed and built under the supervision of Elder and master carver Piri Poutapu, MBE, the canoe took 18 months to complete. This film, the only one of its kind, traces the construction of the giant canoe from the felling of the trees in the forest, to the launching. Fascinating to the general public and at the same time of significance to historians and other specialists, the film interweaves the progress on the canoe through the seasons, with the way of life on the marae that made its construction possible.