Te Pou o Hinematioro



Material and Design



The carving is attributed to the Te Rāwheoro school. This style is characteristic of the visual arts of the East Coast of Aotearoa (New Zealand). Woodcarving remains a significant traditional art form for many Māori. During the time of the panel’s creation, no metal tools were used; instead, materials such as nephrite (also known as greenstone), shells, whalebone, and wood were used to craft chisels and drills. For polishing, dried fish skin was employed.

Previous European owners had sawn off parts of the top section of the panel, most likely to integrate it into a piece of furniture. The pou was fully restored in 2002 using totara wood, which is from the New Zealand yew tree.









“Pākehā” is a term still used today for referring to New Zealanders of European origin. Abel Tasman was the first European to discover Aotearoa - New Zealand - in 1642. The initial contact with Māori people was violent. In 1769, James Cook arrived, initiating British colonization. Before European contact, conflicts between Māori iwi were fought with traditional close-combat weapons. In the early 19th century, trade with Europeans spread muskets, drastically changing the nature of warfare due to the increased danger of injuries, leading to the so-called Musket Wars. As a result, many Māori fled, and their lands were seized by European settlers.

Māori chiefs from the north island signed a declaration of independence in 1835, called He Whakaputanga, to protect their autonomy. However, in 1840 the Treaty of Waitangi transferred sovereignty to the British Crown, making New Zealand a British colony. Although the treaty guaranteed Māori land rights, translation errors and unclear property regulations led to disputes. Triggered by land shortages and increasing pressure on Māori to sell their land, the Wairau Affray of 1843 marked the beginning of Māori resistance against colonization, subsequently leading to the New Zealand Wars,

From 1858 onward, the number of Pākehā surpassed that of Māori, who had also lost much of their land. Although they were represented by four seats in parliament since 1967, Māori were at the lowest point of their existence in the late 1890s. Yet, in the early 20th century, new Māori politics arose, as e.g. the Young Māori Party was founded, which began to turn the situation around. Today’s representative Māori Queen is Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō, a direct descendant of the first Māori King.





What do we know about the Poupou's travels?

Created as commemoration of the ariki Hinematioro and the cultural heritage of the Te Aitanga- a- Hauiti iwi













Exchange and Encounters

Since the "rediscovery" of Hinematioro by Volker Harms in 1996, a vibrant exchange has developed between Tübingen and the Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti community, which is evident in mutual visits and joint exhibition projects. In 2019, Hinematioro temporarily returned to her home at Ūawa, on loan to the Tairāwhiti Museum in Gisborne.