1919: Mauku Figurine

September 25, 2023

By AHNZ

This little Asian figurine was found in South Auckland in c.1919 on a cow track. Elsdon Best said at the time that place, Mauku, South Auckland, was uninhabited until c.1900 so this little object turning up defies explanation. How did it come to be pressed into the clay in the time of the Maoris?

On the other hand, I know that families were settled at Mauku from the mid-1850s. They had a church by the early 1860s. Also the Maori Wars trod through this way. Plenty of opportunity to misplace bits and bobs about the place without getting all 1421: The Year China Discovered New Zealand on it.

I reckon the little guy probably fell in with some hay at some point that made its way into a cow. Perhaps while on a ship. After weeks or even years it worked its way free of the digestive system and landed on the cow track waiting to be found. Perhaps by one of the Swiss settlers in that area?

“It is a small figurine of steatite or soapstone, and was found embedded in stiff clay which had been worn away by storm water and the passage of cattle.” – Pukekohe & Waiuku Times (1919,) Papers Past

“My own diagnosis of the mystery, which I have hugged to my bosom thus far as a private and exclusive joke, is that this relic formed part of the last of the Waikato Maoris when they ransacked the deserted homes of the Mauku and Patumahoe settlers in the war of 1863. Some of these English farmers’ homes were quite nicely furnished, and it is extremely likely that they would have little china dogs and Oriental nicknacks on the whatnot. Indeed, why not? The raiders carried off a lot of plunder from the abandoned homes in many parts of the country, but as they hurried through the bush, fearing that Jackson’s and von Tempsky’s Forest Rangers were on their trail, they threw away all but the valuable articles, and I this bit of bric-a-brac was among the | stuff jettisoned.” – Tangiwai, Auckland Star (1926,) Papers Past

“At last I’ve found one more picture. It is of the actual artefact in question, and is in the Auckland Museum. They state it is from the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), that it is Chinese, and of soapstone. 35.6mm in height. NO MENTION is made of the fact this item, (as proven above), was found in Mauku in a place previously inhabited by Maori at a time no Chinese had visited the area. ” – Sidestep: The Mauku artifact, Tangata Whenua (2016)

Curious thing about Auckland Museum not recording the exciting history of one of New Zealand’s special objects. Is this just another case of government history doing a bad job? Or, do bureaucrats have some sort of inside joke and enjoy trolling the public by obscuring information? It’s a bit like the Kaimanawa Wall in Northland that has embargoed documentation until 2063. The effect of suppressing information just adds more spice to existing mystery.

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Image ref. Mauku Figurine; ‘figure, old man’ gift of R.W. Beresford [Beneford], Auckland Museum. Modified by AHNZ (2023) with Mauku Stream as background

Ref. NZ Journal of Science and Technology (1919,) Aramanu Ropiha, Aotearoa New Zealand Archaeology (Sep 2022)

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