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Overview
This extract originally appeared in Te Ata o Tū The Shadow of Tūmatauenga: The New Zealand Wars Collections of Te Papa (Te Papa Press, 2024).
This extract was authored by Matiu Baker.
The label on [this patu] reads: ‘Bone Meri taken at Te Ranga, 21 June 1864’. During the New Zealand Wars it was essential for Māori to be equipped with the most up-to-date arms they could acquire to fight a modern war, but they still carried the customary weaponry of their ancestors into battle, like this patu parāoa. Made from the dense bone taken from the jaw of a sperm whale, patu parāoa are incredibly effective weapons in close-quarters combat. The bone is so dense and hard that the edge of the rau can easily crush bone and split skin in a single, short, sharp strike or thrust.