Maori Feast at Remuera Interactive

Ko te kai a te rangatira, he kōrero, ko te wai a te rangatira he waiata – talk is the food of chiefs and song is their water.

In May 1844, Auckland was home to one of the largest Māori feasts ever recorded. Explore the details and story of this wonderful event in an interactive from the exhibition.

The Remuera feast interactive requires the use of Adobe Flash Player version 10.1 (14 mb) and may be slow to appear on the page (around 40-60 seconds on a 54.0 mbps connection).

Around 4000 guests assembled between Mt Hobson (Remuwera) and Mt St John (Titikopuke) for the Māori feast. For four days they dined on 9000 sharks and 11,000 baskets of potatoes.

When Governor FitzRoy arrived on the first morning of the feast he witnessed two groups of 800 Māori warriors perform a thunderous haka (Māori dance) before charging at each other in a mock battle. The entire event was a spectacular display of Maori power and strength.

According to written accounts the feast was hosted by tribes from Waikato led by Te Wherowhero and Wiremu Wetere Te Kauae to assert mana and to reciprocate past feasts. You can read more about the feast and share your version of the story on the Auckland Museum blog.

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