condensed discuss document expanded export feedback print share remove reset document_white enquire_white export_white report_white
discuss document export feedback print share gallery-landscape xml

Te matau

human history
  • Ingoa Kē

    Fish hook (English)

  • Kupu whakaahua

    Te matau. Wooden fish hook. This large fish hook is made from two individual pieces of wood that have been lashed together with te kora (coconut fibre cord). This type of matau was used for deep sea fishing; for catching sharks and other big fish. The first piece, which accounts for a large portion of the fish hook, has been carved from a branch that has a natural sharp curve in its form making it appropriate for the objects intended use.

    The second component is a sharp pointed tip that sits perpendicular to the curved end of the first piece, and which has been tightly lashed to it with a thick two-ply kora, completing the fish hook. The top of the matau has also been bound at two points with a similar two-ply kora that extends out from the hook and moprhs into a much thicker tubular two-ply kora that would have been used to attach the fish hook to a te ao (fishing line). The wood is dark brown in colour and smooth-surfaced with some visible cracks in the curved joint of the branch, and some abrasions on its exterior, including marks on the body where the surface or inner bark has been scraped away.

  • Wāhi
  • Rā Tāpiringa
    Unknown
  • Tohu Tuakiri Kē

    2018.x.262 (temporary accession number)

  • Wāhanga
Te matau, 2018.x.262, Photographed by Daan Hoffmann,… … Read more

Mātātuhi me ngā tuhinga

Mātātuhi

Taonga

E hangaia tonutia ana te kohinga tuihono a Tāmaki Paenga Hira; tāpirihia ai ngā whakahoutanga me ngā pūkete i ia wiki. I ētahi wā, kāore anō kia whakaūhia ngā pūkete e ngā kaimahi o Te Whare Taonga, tēnā pea he hapa kei roto i ngā kōrero.

The gift of curiosity

With unlimited free entry to all paid exhibitions, discounted event tickets and exclusive Member-only events, a Museum Membership is the gift that keeps on giving year-round.

SEE OPTIONS FROM $60

The gift of curiosity