Arawa soldier warning off. Maketu Pa, September 1865

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) on pages 196-197.
This extract was authored by Rebecca Rice.

Elsdon Best warned, in response to an offer of 40 ‘unique’ drawings for £20 in 1920, ‘it is rumoured that General Robley has a habit of reproducing his own sketches several times, hence it will be necessary to ascertain whether or not we already have any of the series offered’.1 Best’s caution was warranted. At least six versions of Arawa soldier warning off have been identified, three of which are in Te Papa’s collections, each with slight variations. In the sketch pictured here, the warrior holds a mere, while in others he wields a rifle or a tewhatewha.2

1 Elsdon Best, 15 July 1920, Te Papa Archives, MU14, folder 1, item 7.
2 See Tim Walker, ‘Robley: Te Ropere, 1840–1930’, Master’s thesis, University of Auckland, 1985.