Whales, taonga and customary resources
Stranded whales were valuable for meat, teeth, oil and bone. Te Ara describes sperm-whale jawbones being fashioned into weapons, combs and ceremonial objects, and teeth into prized ornaments. Access to a stranded whale could involve questions of authority and customary rights. Historical practice varied and should not be simplified into a claim that all Māori communities used whales in exactly the same way.
Taonga and the histories of objects
Whale teeth and bone could be fashioned into valued objects, including rei puta. The significance of an individual taonga cannot be established merely from its material: maker, owner, whakapapa, use and subsequent collection history matter. Museum catalogue descriptions sometimes record the circumstances of acquisition in detail and sometimes do not. A library entry should preserve the original object record, its institution and identifier, and any specifically documented connection to Kāpiti rather than assigning a local provenance on appearance alone.
Explore connected books
Explore connected history
- A public warning about the destruction of breeding whales
- Māori and whales: an enduring relationship
- Right whales
- Te Wai-o-Rongomai and Te Puna-o-Rongomai
- Waikanae naming traditions
- Whale Song, Kāpiti — Blood, Oil and Bone (2025)
- Puketapu ki Paraparaumu — History and Living Connections
- Modern whaling and whale watching
- Whale names in te reo Māori
- Paikea and the whale that saved him
- Tinirau, Kae and the whale Tutunui
