The Chatham Islands |
 History: This is a model (in the Chatham Islands Museum) of a small inter-island Moriori canoe. It was fascinating to learn that after the first bands of Polynesian navigators had arrived on the islands (whether directly from Polynesia or indirectly via Aotearoa), they couldn’t leave. Their large ocean-going canoes would have been riddled with worms and barely sea-worthy, but they couldn’t be replaced because the islands did not have any hardwood trees with timber that was suitable for building new canoes. This was why the original settlers and their descendants stayed on the islands and, by doing so, developed a unique culture. |