DATE: 27 Apr 2009, 3:21 pm / MOOD: Other

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Biographies of Asia Pacific Peoples, and gives
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DATE: 27 Apr 2009, 3:12 pm / MOOD: Happy

Timi Kara (also known as James Carroll) served twice as acting Prime Minister - in 1909 and 1911. The Prime Minister was from a very large family , traditionally raised in Maori way. The importance of large family has always been seen in Maori and Kiwi Culture, Timi Kara, also refered to as James Carroll was one of eight children, his mother was a notable Chieftainess, Tapuke, who was descended from a long noble line of ancestors of the Ngati-Kahungunu Iwi. Father was said to be Joeseph Carroll of Irish descent; now a Kiwi of Aotearoa. Timi Kara was one of many Maori in Politics, some pushing separate government,and some pushing Maori Administration within new social political systems that supported regional cooperation, just one of the growing oppositions to new political systems, and camapigning for separatization was the Hauhau movement which was then rising, in 1867 one of the feared HauHau Maori movements had spread and become so dangerous that schooling was impossible in the area. which was a Maori reorganized religious Military Movement from a previous campaign that took the area. Timi Kara was one who worked within new growing political systems, In 1892 he was appointed to Cabinet as representative of the Maori affairs and opposed the Maori Land Court if granted Maori land title to individuals rather than Iwi or Hapu. This became known as the Rees–Carroll Commission

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DATE: 01 Sep 2008, 7:13 pm / MOOD: Full of life

Maori's Battle at Gate Pa

 This battle was fought on 29 April 1864 and was one of a number of engagements fought in the period 1860 - 1872 in what are known as the Maori Wars. These wars were fought between the Maori and Maori Allied Authorities and the British settlers which at that time sought New Zealand as a residence. Gate Pa was again, a major defeat for the British at the hands of Maori who were out numbered. The British were out smarted out engineered through the First Wars and Maori Allies were teaching them Maori ways of war and tactics in Pa building.
Before 1864 the battles had been fought primarily in the Waikato and Taranaki regions which are in the central and western parts respectively of the North Island of New Zealand. By 1864 missionaries had established a mission station called Te Papa on a peninsula near the present day city of Tauranga in the eastern part of the North Island. The harbour of Tauranga in 1864 was the only port open to Maori to supply the Waikato region and the area around the battle site was itself a source of supply for them. Also there were rumours that 1400-1500 Maori from the far eastern side of the North Island were going to pass through the Tauranga area to join the Waikato Maori.
The new colony had chosen Governor of New Zealand , George Grey,who decided to send a force to to the Tauranga area to blockade any reinforcements and supplies reaching the Waikato Maori and in January 1864 the British build up based at Te Papa mission station commenced.
The local Ngatirangi tribe led by Rawiri Puhirake had been supporters of the Waikato tribes fighting the British and the Ngatirangi now gathered in the Te Papa area to fight the British.
In March 1864 Rawiri issued a challenge to the British to fight. In the challenge,which was written by Henare Taratoa who had been educated by the Church Missionary Society, the word "Pakeha" is a Maori word for a non-Maori , commonly used to refer to a European, and is in common usage today.

March 28, 1864
Potiriwhi, District of Tauranga.
To the Colonel (who the Maori were about to Battle)

(to)Friend, -Salutations to you. The end of that. Friend, do you give heed to our laws for regulating the fight.
Rule 1. If wounded or captured whole, and butt of the musket or hilt of the sword be turned to me, he will be saved.
Rule 2. If any Pakeha, being a soldier by name, shall be travelling unarmed and meets me, he will be captured, and handed over to the direction of the law.
Rule 3. The soldier who flees, being carried away by his fears, and goes to the house of the priest with his gun (even though carrying arms) will be saved. I will not go there.
Rule 4. The unarmed Pakehas, women and children, will be spared. The end. These are binding laws for Tauranga.

By Terea Puimanuka Wi Kotiro Pine Amopu Kereti Pateriki. Or rather by all the Catholics at Tauranga

The British didn't know what to make of this document and ignored the challenge and the rules.
At the beginning of April 1864 Ngatirangi started to build a pa (a Maori fortified position which expendable unlike British tactics many cases built directly in front of a British Fort to start a conflict) at a place called Pukehinahina and which was about 3 miles [4.8km.] from the Te Papa mission.
The Maori word "Pa" generally denoted a fortified place built and used by the Maoris of New Zealand. Such places included a fortified village and a fortified place of refuge.
Pas were numerous in Maori history times and were often found on hilltops, ridges, cliffs, islands and headlands, British in the beginning would mistake a village for a Warrior village and a Pa as a
point of defense, they soon learned the difference in tactics and the difference between a Maori Pa and a
British Fort.
With the arrival of rockets and the musket (c.1815) the design of a Pa underwent a significant change to reflect the longer range of a musket and the use of cannon. The Maori began making innovations such as rifle-pits, ramparts and bastions.

By the time of the Battle of Gate Pa in 1864 Pa
1. Pekerangi (Light Fence)
The pekerangi was a light fence which usually surrounded the pa. It was about 3-4 feet high and the bottom of the fence about 12-18 inches above the ground. This was so the Maori could fire muskets underneath the fence at an advancing opposing force.
The pekerangi was also intended to deaden shot and cannon ball and to delay a storming party.
2. The Trench
Behind the pekerangi was a trench about 4 feet deep where Maori could fire at an advancing force and then duck down to reload their muskets.
3. The parapet
Behind the trench was a parapet about 6 feet high formed out of the earth thrown out of the digging of the trench.
4. The Underground Chamber
Within the parapet the Maori would excavate a number of underground chambers to serve as shelter from muskets and cannon balls. These chambers would be covered with low pitched rooves made of earth and and logs of timber. A witness to these chambers in a pa in 1860 said:
"The pa consisted of ten chambers excavated in the clay, communicating with each other, three at each side, and two at each flank, each calculated to contain from twenty to twenty-five men.

These chambers were wider at top than at bottom, sloping from the centre to give strength and width of base to the work. The chambers were overlaid with rafters and a layer of fern and earth between two and three feet deep, the whole surrounded with a double fence, filled up with fern and earth, communicated with the interior, and from whence the inmates could fire without in the least exposing themselves."

5. Interior Design
The interior design of the trenches was like a labyrinth and designed to confuse an attacking force. Often there would be connecting tunnels within the trench system so that the defenders could move within the pa sheltered by the earthworks.
Of this feature Major -General Sir J.E. Alexander says in his book

"Bush Fighting; Incidents of the Maori War in New Zealand" regarding the defeat at Gate Pa:

"The repulse, without doubt, arose from the confusion occasioned by the intricate nature of the interior, honeycombed with rifle pits and under ground passages, and the enemy lying down had, no doubt, considerable advantage in shooting at our men from concealed positions."
All of these features were present at Gate Pa as can be seen on the plan--
There were some 8 underground chambers.
The site of Gate Pa was located on a ridge approximately 300 yards [274mts.] across and was sited where a deep ditch had been dug and there was a boundary fence between Maori and new Settlers . This fence had a gate in it to allow bullocks and carts to pass and so to British the Pa came to be known as the Gate Pa.

(A photograph taken of Gate Pa by an unknown photographer. Haines, B G :Photographs compiled while on active service with the 18th Royal Irish Regiment during the New Zealand Wars (PAColl-3483) A group of mounted soldiers is visible. Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mätauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image)
The main redoubt of the Gate Pa stretched about 87 yards [80 mts.] along a rise with a smaller redoubt some 22 yards [20 mts.] from the main redoubt. The pa was situated on a spit of land between a swamp on one side and a river on the other. The main redoubt (where the Naval Brigade was to attack) was some 22 yards [18 mts.] in depth. It consisted of parapets, rifle pits and a triple line of trenches covered with timbers through which the Maori could fire. There were also covered dugouts and underground shelters.The main redoubt was enclosed by a light palisade fence.
The main redoubt contained about 200 Maori and the smaller redoubt 40. The smaller redoubt consisted of a double line of covered trenches also surrounded by a palisade fence. Between the 2 redoubts was a simple ditch which was to be occupied by 600 Waikato Maori who never arrived.
On 21 April 1864 General Sir Duncan Cameron arrived in HMS Esk with his staff and on 26 April 600 sailors and Royal Marines were disembarked from HMS Harrier, Curacoa, Esk and Miranda. One 110-pounder Armstrong gun and two 40-pounder Armstrong guns, along with 14 smaller artillery pieces, were unloaded from HMS Esk and taken to within firing distance of the Gate Pa.

a plan of that Pa.
So by 28 April 1864 the British had assembled 1,300 soldiers primarily from the 43rd and 68th Regiments under General Sir Duncan Cameron.The 43rd (Monmouthshire) Light Infantry Regiment ('Wolfes' Own') commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel H.J. Booth had sailed from Calcutta, India, in 1863 and while in New Zealand served in the Waikato, at Gate Pa, Te Ranga and later in Taranaki. It returned to England in 1866 after 15 years of overseas service. The 68th (Durham) Light Infantry Regiment ('The Faithful Durhams') commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel H.H. Greer had come from Burma in 1864. It took part in Gate Pa, Te Ranga and was in Wanganui. It returned to England in 1866.
A Naval Brigade of 429 officers and men from a flotilla of Australia Squadron ships including HMS Curacoa, Esk, Falcon, Harrier and Miranda had also been assembled under Commodore Sir William Wiseman .
General Cameron had fought in the Crimean War (1854-56) against Russia and had led the 40th Regiment at the Battle of the Alma and the Highland Brigade at Balaclava and the siege of Sebastopol. He first came to New Zealand in 1862 to take charge of the 2nd Taranaki Campaign, and before the Tauranga Campaign where the Battle of Gate Pa was to occur had commanded throughout the Waikato War of 1863-64.
General Cameron intended to use artillery to make a breach in the main redoubt of the Maori Pa and then assault the breach with his soldiers and the Naval Brigade. To prevent the Maori escaping from the Pa at 9pm on the night of 28/29 April he sent the 68th Regiment under Lieutenant Colonel Greer around the mudflats which emerged at low tide at the side of the pa to hold the land at the rear intending to cut off any retreat for the Maori from the pa..


The camp is pitched in a commanding situation. The tents of the soldiery are placed on the incline of a fine clover-clad bank. The brush and scrub have been cleared and burnt off all around. Ditches have been transformed to lines of rifle-pits, communicating with the Durham and Monmouth Redoubts, which are constructed to command and support each other and sweep the outer approaches. The Monmouth Redoubt had been formed from a former old Maori Pa well built and still usable.

It is situated on the edge of the cliff that overhangs the beach, three of its faces being surmounted with parapets with bastions, on one of which a 12-pounder Armstrong gun is posted; the fourth face, being on the edge of the cliff, has been left open. Lieutenant Talbot, 43rd Regiment, commands the Maori built Monmouth Redoubt. To the left of this redoubt, looking seaward, there are the rugged and broken remains of another old Maori work called The Tombs. They are situated near Archdeacon Brown's orchard and dwelling, are full of old potato holes, and bordered by ditches and whitethorn fences, some of them very close and upwards of twenty feet high.


At daybreak on the morning of Friday, 29th of April 1864, in a drizzling rain, the bombardment of the pa commenced. The artillery included 8 mortars (the 2 heaviest throwing a 46-pound shell), 2 howitzers (throwing a 24-pound shell), 2 naval cannon (throwing the standard 32-pound shell) and 5 Armstrong guns. The Armstrong guns comprised a 110-pounder, 2 40-pounders, and 2 6-pounders. In his book "The New Zealand Wars" James Belich says (at p.182) in referring to the mortars, howitzers and cannon:

"Powerful as they were, these weapons were conventional, single-cast and muzzle-loading, but the British were also equipped with the latest science could provide: the Armstrong gun. This gun was both rifled and breech-loading, and a new process was used to cast it which made possible the use of a huge weight of shell without a corresponding increase in the weight of the gun. Invented in 1854, the Armstrong had first been used at the attack on the Taku forts in China in 1860. These were tremendously strong masonry fortifications of the conventional type and the Armstrongs used were only twelve-pounders. Nevertheless ... their shells succeeded in 'actually knocking the wall about.' At Gate Pa, apart from two six-pounder Armstrongs, there were two 40-pounders and one enormous 110-pounder - 'probably the heaviest gun ever used on shore in New Zealand . It is scarcely surprising that the naval crew of this early Big Bertha maintained that they were 'going to blow the Pah to the devil'.
The concentration of British artillery was of considerable power even in absolute terms. When it is considered that these guns fired unhampered by enemy artillery from a distance of 350 to 800 yards [320 to 730 meters] at a target of less that 3,000 square yards [2,500 square meters], their power appears awesome. Gate Pa was the ultimate test of strength between British and Maori military technologies, between modern artillery and the modern pa. In a wider sense, it was to be the first of many contests between breech-loading, rifled, composite-cast heavy artillery and trench-and-bunker earthworks."
Belich observes that in proportion to the size of the pa and its garrison, the artillery bombardment was comparable to those in the First World War.
The bombardment continued until midday. During this bombardment the Maori leader, Rawiri, strode up and down the parapets calling out to the gunners at each shot: "Tena tena e mahi i to mahi" (go on with your work, do your worst).
A 6-pounder field piece had been taken to an adjoining higher ridge and commenced firing on the smaller redoubt. All the other guns then recommenced firing until 3pm.The artillery bombardment was said to be the heaviest of the Wars. By this time a breach had been created on the right hand corner of the main redoubt and with the rain and the bombardment the defences were very muddy.
A 300 strong assault column had been formed comprising 150 men from the 43rd Regiment under Colonel Booth and the same number from the Naval Brigade (including Samuel) under Commander Hay (then aged 28). Another group of 300 men again split between the 43rd and the Naval Brigade comprised the reserve with orders to follow the assault column into the pa.
At 4pm on 28 April the assault began when the signal, a rocket, was fired. The assault party 4 abreast (2 soldiers, 2 sailors), with their officers at each side of the column, rushed toward the breach in the main redoubt. Covering fire was given by the remaining soldiers of the 43rd and by the 68th soldiers in the rear.
In a few minutes the assault column was through the breach and inside the pa. As the assault column came into the pa it is said Maori attempted to escape at the rear of the pa. However because of the presence of the soldiers of the 68th, who were advancing towards the rear of the pa, they were unable to escape and turned around and came back into the pa. The Maori then sought shelter in the covered dugouts and underground shelters in the pa and commenced firing on the soldiers and sailors within the pa and Maori from the smaller redoubt joined in the firing. The Maori also engaged in hand-to-hand combat within the twists and turns of the pa.
General Cameron, believing the pa had been taken, ordered the reserve assault force to enter the pa and these men only added to the confusion of a large number of men crowded into a small space.By now it was getting onto dusk and many of the British officers (including Colonel Booth and Commander Hay) had fallen.The next few minutes decided the day. For an unknown reason a panic ensued amongst the British forces. It is said a subaltern called out "My God, here they come !" and this may have been because Maori were returning to the pa. The British forces suffered casualties and retreated.
The disorganised British now broke from the pa and fled back to their own lines with the Maori from the main redoubt in pursuit. At the same time the Maori in the smaller redoubt kept up a crossfire on the retreating soldiers and sailors.

As Commander Hay's coxswain, Samuel had accompanied Commander Hay in the initial assault and when Hay fell wounded he ordered Samuel to leave him and go to safety. Samuel refused to leave him although repeatedly ordered to do so and carried Hay, amid a fusillade of Maori bullets, to the British lines.As Samuel was carrying Hay he was met by Staff Surgeon William Manley who, notwithstanding the chaos around him, dressed Commander Hay's wounds under fire and then went to attend to other wounded in the pa. It's said he was one of the last officers to leave the pa and Staff Surgeon Manley also received a Victoria Cross for his actions on this day.
General Cameron rallied his men about 100 yards from the pa and they threw up earthworks. Given it was dusk General Cameron decided against another assault. British dead and dying remained in the pa during the night and a Maori, before leaving the pa, gave water to a number of soldiers, including the dying Colonel Booth of the 43rd Regiment. At 5am the next morning a sailor from Harrier crept up to the pa and found the Maori had left during the night slipping past the men of the 68th.Commander Hay died the next day and his dying wish was that Samuel be recommended for the Victoria Cross and this recommendation was taken up by Commodore Wiseman.

(A drawing by H.G. Robley made early in the morning on 30 April 1864, the day after the battle. The view is inside Gate Pa looking east from the breach. British soldiers from the 68th Regiment are standing guard while stretcher bearers to the right are taking out wounded. There are 2 wounded Maori in the right hand ditch. To the left can be seen a covered passage leading to the rifle pits and the pekerangi(light fence). Tauranga harbour can be seen in the background. Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mätauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image)
British casualties were more than a third of the assault force with over 110 men killed or wounded. Ten officers were killed while 28 non-commissioned officers and privates were killed and 73 wounded. The 43rd Regiment lost 20 killed (including its colonel, Colonel Booth, 4 captains and a lieutenant) and 12 wounded. The 68th Regiment lost 4 killed and 16 wounded. The Naval Brigade lost 13 killed (including virtually all of its officers) and 26 wounded. Total Maori losses were estimated at 25.

There was a great outcry, both in New Zealand and England, that a force of some 1,700 soldiers and sailors could have been defeated by 200 Maori and General Cameron was roundly criticised. To contemporaries Gate Pa seemed a defeat 'perhaps unparalled in British military annals.' In blaming Cameron four factors were highlighted as contributing to the defeat:
leaving the assault so late on a rainy day so that dusk came on during the fighting;
using a mixed force of soldiers and sailors for the assault;
not assaulting the smaller redoubt at the same time as the larger redoubt. This would have avoided the Maori concentrating their fire and weight at one point;
the quick advance of the reserve assault force which added to the confusion in the pa.

Afterwards the defeat attributed to an accident and the official explanations reflected this view. These accounts referred to the complicated nature of the defences and the loss of officers. Most contemporary historians take the view that the retreating Maori driven back by the 68th Regiment induced the panic.
The historian James Belich makes the argument that the Maori deliberately created a trap for the British. That in fact the Maori garrison did not evacuate the pa but concealed themselves in underground chambers covered with tree branches and earth. Then when the British assault party entered the main redoubt the Maori commenced firing at close range and the assault force could not effectively retaliate. This continued for perhaps 5 minutes and then the British broke. He states in his book the New Zealand Wars:

"For one thing, the trap into which the British assault party fell was surely a remarkable tactical ploy. The use of concealed or deceptively weak-looking fortifications to ambush attackers was ... a major element of the tactical repertoire made possible by the flexible modern pa. Rawiri's trap at Gate Pa was perhaps the ultimate refinement of this technique. It amounted to using the enemy's overwhelming strength against him and it involved the fearsome risk of allowing the assault-party, which alone outnumbered the garrison, into the main redoubt. Inside, the redoubt was less a fortification than a killing ground, as soldiers who inspected the redoubt after the battle attested. 'Those who were in this morning for the first time say that they never saw such a place in their life, and that you might as well drive a lot of men into a sheep pen and shoot them down as let them assault a place like that.'"
Also the Admiralty, while conceding that the Navy could not have stood by in the Waikato and Tauranga campaigns was not pleased with its losses at Gate Pa and reminded Commodore Wiseman of"..the serious inconvenience which may arise from having HM ships rendered inefficient by the loss of so many of their best officers and men." Thereafter, except in urgent situations, Wiseman was not to detach men to take part in land battles and limit his aid to matters such as water transport, provisions of stores and landing and manning of artillery.
It was not until almost 2 months later, on 21 June 1864, that the British had an opportunity to avenge their defeat at Gate Pa.
On that day Colonel Greer, with some 600 men of the 43rd and 68th Regiments,came across about 500 Ngatirangi, led by their chief Rawiri, fortifying a position at Te Ranga about 4 miles (6.5km) inland from Gate Pa. Greer opened fire and sent for reinforcements from Te Papa. When these arrived, about 200 men and an Armstrong gun, the British charged. Unlike Gate Pa they charged across the whole of the Maori line. After an initial volley the fighting was almost all hand -to-hand and very bloody. The Maori were slowly being forced from their lines when Rawiri was killed and they then retreated. This battle was to see Victoria Crosses awarded to Captain Frederick Smith and to Sergeant John Murray. Also killed at Te Ranga was Henare Taratoa who had written the rules for battle given to the British at Gate Pa and who had fought at Gate Pa. A copy of the rules was found on his body.

The defeat at Te Ranga broke the resistance of the Ngatirangi and in July 1864 they came into Te Papa to surrender their weapons and pledge peace to Governor Grey.
The body of Rawiri Purihake, who had been buried at Te Ranga, was later re-interred at the cemetery at Tauranga next to his opponent of Gate Pa, Colonel Booth.
An interesting sideline is that during the night of 29-30 April 1864, while the wounded lay in the Pa, a Maori risked his life to bring water through the English sentries to the English wounded.. It's said the Henare Taratoa who had been friends with Bishop Selwyn from 1845 to 1853, when war broke out Henare in honor duty for his people returned to his people and fought at Gate Pa. He was subsequently killed at Te Ranga in July 1864.

Today little remains of the Pa itself and on the site of the main redoubt of Gate Pa there is the small Memorial Church of St. George which was built in 1900. The remaining area of the pa has been developed for housing and is now a suburb of Tauranga called Greerton after Colonel Greer. One of the residential streets near the church is called Mitchell Road after Samuel and the main road going past the church is called Cameron Road after General Cameron. Near the city centre of Tauranga is the original mission house and graveyard of Te Papa where Maori and Europeans who died at the battle are buried. The New Zealand city of Hamilton was named after Captain Fane Charles Hamilton, the commander of HMS Esk, who was killed in the battle of Gate Pa.

On the edge of a cliff at the north-eastern extremity of the isthmus on which the town of Tauranga stands the Old Mission Cemetery, very frequently erroneously called the Old Military Cemetery. It never was a “Military” Cemetery, although here lie the Pakeha sailors and soldiers who fell at Gate Pa and Te Ranga and in the later engagements at Irihanga and Whakamarama. here lie missionary, soldier, settler; and among them two chivalrous foes, Rawiri Puhirake and Hori Ngatai.



At the gateway of this historic cemetery is a notice board telling us in simple words that it is


Otamataha Pa the Burial Ground of the Church Missionary Society1835–1881 Also of the Soldiers and Sailors who fell in the Maori War 1864–65. (Later renamed for British Historians as The New Zealand Wars )

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DATE: 17 Jul 2008, 1:25 am / MOOD: Happy

The Samoan tattoo is called a pea’a on the men, and a malu on the women. The pea’as encompassed the entire area from above the waist to below the knee, and were usually done in one go, taking perhaps a week or two. The teeth of the hoe-like striking instrument were carved longitudinally from the incisors of the wild boar, which in turn was affixed to a piece of turtle shell. The teeth were sharpened with a piece of coral, and if not kept sharp will cause a lot of tissue damage. Each tattoo design was unique to that individual and since it conveyed specific information about their status, rank, ancestry and abilities, it has accurately been described as a form of id card or passport, a kind of aesthetic bar code .
Various tools were used to pat the designs into the skin, a liquid soot-based pigment would be tapped into the open wounds, which then heals over to seal in the design creating a tattoo. Samoan masters made these tools from sharpened boar's teeth fastened together with a portion of the turtle shell and to a wooden handle.
the tattoos were given to warriors at various stages in their lives the more bare spots would give the impression of beginner or less experience on some islands like the Marquesas. In Apia a bottle of bluing was used in washing it lent the pigment a bluish hue as opposed to a reddish hue that some ferric oxide and carbon based pigments will exhibit. reports of deep blue tattoos in Tahiti and Samoa appear in the logs of explorers of the European sailors of 17th century, the pacific had long been colonized before then and was declining around 1700 b.p. in small areas of the pacific, Easter Island was almost completely abandoned at that time with a few families and priests. (to the left is an example of a
Marquesas Warrior Tattoo) The Marquesas tattoos were also labels of birth, rank, trade, and accomplishments like Polynesians in Samoa .
Families play a role in the tradition of the Samoan tattooing process, it is an event and needs to be witnessed, and used to be prerequisite to receiving a matai title. the women too; their designs are of a much lighter nature rather than having the large areas of solid dye which are frequently seen in men’s tattoos. The tattooing of women were mostly in sections across the legs and in cases across the arm and hand.
Samoan society has long been defined by rank and title, with chiefs (ali'i) and their assistants, known as talking chiefs (tulafale). The tattooing ceremonies for young chiefs and Kings, typically conducted at the time of puberty, were part of their ascendancy to a leadership role. The permanent marks left by the masters would forever celebrate their endurance and dedication to cultural traditions. The pain was extreme and the risk of death by infection was a concern; to back down from tattooing was to risk being labeled a “pala'ai” or coward. Those who could not endure the pain and abandoned their tattooing were left incomplete and family shamed if the task could not be completed, at one time tattooing was a very costly procedure .
The wife of the tattooer is also greatly honoured in her position of wiping the blood of the tattooed person. She is known and addressed as the Meana'i she is very well paid by the family. The tattoo specialist, or tufuga, in tradition is highly respected ,the right to perform tattoos in Samoa can be traced back to a person's ancestors and if the person's forefathers were known to be a member of a tattoo guild, then the person was permitted by hereditary to enjoy the same privileges. An experienced tattooed artist trains apprentice tattooers who worked under their supervision until they are allowed to perform independently
The Samoan tattooing process used a number of tools which remained almost unchanged since their first use. “Autapulu” is a wide tattooing comb used to fill in the large dark areas of the tattoo. “Ausogi'aso tele” is a comb used for making thick lines. “Ausogi'aso laititi” is a comb used for making thin lines. “Aumogo” small comb is used for making small marks. “Sausau” is the mallet is used for striking the combs. It is almost two feet in length and made from the central rib of a coconut palm leaf. “Tuluma” is the pot used for holding the tattooing combs.






I. O le Taga Tapulu (back and small of the back) In the first session the height to which the tattoo will rise is decided (Ano le Tua), this is always such that the top of the design will show above the lavalava. Then the va'a, pula tama and pula tele are outlined and the design filled in.
II. O le Taga Fai'aso (the posterior) The aso fa'aifo are completed around to the abdomen and the 'asolaititi are finished. Next to be added are the saemutu, which vary in number depending upon social status. A matai will have four an orator three and anyone else would have two. Where it meets the 'ivimutu at the anus it is called tafaufile, where it covers the perineum it is called tasele, where it covers the scrotum it is called tafumiti and the area over the penis is called tafito. Needless to say this is very painful.
III. Taga Tapau The lausae, an area of solid tattooing, is added to the thighs beneath the aso e lua.
IV. Taga o Fusi ma Ulumanu The fourth session is the tattooing of the ulumanu, from the center of the thigh up to the inner groin.
V. 'Umaga (the end) The final sessions involves the tattooing of the abdomen, the area that covers the navel being called the pute, and is apparently the most painful part of the whole process learning the craft over many years of serving as his father's apprentice. A young artist-in-training often spent hours, and sometimes days, tapping designs into sand or tree bark using a special tattooing comb, or au. Honoring their tradition.


In Samoa and New Zealand today you can't get a traditional tattoo without permission from certain people such as chiefs in the village since it does not record your status in the community
and would not make sense, however there are many modern Polynesian tattoo designs for people with an urge to have one.
Maori tattooing would usually start at adolescence, and was used to celebrate important events throughout life. The first tattoo marks the transition from childhood to adulthood and was done during a series of rites and rituals. Tattoo art was an important part of the Maori culture – in fact, people without tattoos were considered to be without status or worth.
Instead of needles, the Maori people used knives and chisels (uhi)
The tattoo ink for the body color was made from an organism that is half vegetable, half caterpillar (the caterpillar is infected by a certain kind of fungus that starts growing out of its head, killing the caterpillar). The darker, black tattoo ink used for the face was made of burned wood. when the materials were turned to carbon by way of firing, they were ground to a fine dust then mixed with a carrying agent which was normally watered to a fine fluid .Ta moko: literally the words ta moko translate as to strike or to tap. The term refers to the process of tattooing in the Maori traditions. Moko: the tattoo design itself – the finished product. The traditional Maori tattoo consists of bold spiral designs covering the face, the buttocks and the legs of the Maori men and in some cases down to the knees.

Haehae Lines
When you look at a facial Moko, whether the Mataora or Mata-kiore type, the one dominating component, other than koru, is the lines. These are prominent around the mouth, on the lips, up the forehead and on those deceiving cheek "spirals." Even the filling of positive areas comprises of lines, whether they be the hatch rec-linear or "ladder" type, the semi-curvlinear or "ray" type or even the more contemporary notched "chevron" type. The meaning of a single or common Moko symbol does not uniformly apply across all tribes or or clans so a comprehensive understanding can be difficult between wearers .

The Māori tattooing chisel, or "uhi" around was preferable bone material being from the albatross. Traditional Māori discovered that the albatross bone had a porous property which meant that it absorbed pigment, enabling the artist to work a longer line. Most tattooists, even today, have the same common desire to find a method by which they can achieve a longer line without having to re-load with pigment.
Some uhi were serrated knives used to carve the design into the skin and because of this were used primarily to carry pigment into the initial wound. However some of the finer uhi were straight edged, much like a regular knife. Once bound into place the chisel was dipped into pigment and with a second mallet type the stick was tapped into the skin carrying with it the pigment. chisels were the first used in the Ta Moko application process that caused the deep grooves as if the skin had been gouged like wood. Most uhi chisels, had a male dove-tail style end which was an insert into the end of a 10"-12" handle. They often had a hole carved into it which was used for lashing so the chisel would be held firmly within the handle. The gouged mokos appear as if someone had drawn a line and it had sunk into the skin, the ink line actually does sink in with age, the skin engulfs the line in some parts of the face, revealing only the carved line. After the Moko is finished the face would puff up and swell, but if a karakia was recited properly, then a beautiful moko would present itself once the swelling subsided.
For Maori the appropriate karakia (long religious chants) had to be recited by the tohunga in order for the moko application to be successful.

With the coming of new times new materials were used for moko, such as metal needles which left a smoother appearance (as opposed to the etched look). This smoother appearance was sometimes seen as more desirable than the etched look, though the application of moko with needles was seen by some Maori as not being an authentic moko.

The Maori are spread throughout
New Zealand and have a long and rich Culture, each area is the territory of a seperate family or sub family each with a seperate variation of the moko. The Moko identified your area although a complete reading of another's moko may be difficult, one could still identify where he or she was from . The women were not as extensively tattooed as the men. Their upper lips were outlined, usually in dark blue. The nostrils were also very finely incised. The chin moko was always the most popular, and continued to be practiced even into the 1970s. The male facial tattoo - Moko - is generally divided into eight sections :


1.Ngakaipikirau (rank). The center forehead area
2.Ngunga (position). Around the brows
3.Uirere (hapu rank). The eyes and nose area
4.Uma (first or second marriage). The temples
5.Raurau (signature). The area under the nose
6.Taiohou (work). The cheek area
7.Wairua (mana). The chin
8.Taitoto (birth status). The jaw
Ancestry is indicated on each side of the face. The left side is generally (but not always, depending on the tribe) the father's side, while the right hand side indicates the mother's ancestry. Descent was a foremost requirement before a Moko could be undertaken.
If one side of a person's ancestry was not of rank, that side of the face would have no Moko design. Likewise if, in the centre forehead area there is no Moko design, this means the wearer either has no rank, or has not inherited rank .

Tohunga-ta-moko is the traditional term used for a tattoo expert. The word tohunga means expert, and there are several terms used for different disciplines such as tohunga-whakairo (carving expert) or tohunga-rongoa (medicinal plant healing expert).
In modern times, the word tohunga means priest (the word itself, though, literally translates as 'expert'). It has evolved from the fact that all arts in te ao Maori (the Maori world) are god-given and appropriate rituals and observances needed to be made when completing an art form. So not only was a tohunga an expert in their chosen field, but they were also closer to the atua (gods) in that they were practicing a sacred art and knew all of the appropriate karakia (long religious chants) and observances to ensure no raruraru (trouble), spiritual or otherwise, eventuated

Moko is the most widely appropriated design in the world today when it comes to facial tattoos and the term "moko" is also appropriated. Being a taonga (treasure) of Maori, it is extremely offensive when moko has been appropriated by Pakeha (non-Maori NZers) and foreigners. The term "moko" should not be used for a facial tattoo that is not Maori. If one has not asked the permission of their whanau, hapu, and iwi (family, sub-tribe, and tribe respectively) then they have not gone through the proper channels before having it applied.
Being an intrinsic element of te ao Maori (the Maori world), moko signifies your dedication to your whanau, hapu, and iwi. It signifies your dedication to tikanga Maori (Maori custom and protocol), te reo Maori (the Maori language) and te ao Maori. It is not taken at all lightly, and is considered to be tapu (sacred). This is why misappropriation by foreigners is seen as a grave offense.
Kirituhi is another term for a Maori-style tattoo, one that uses Maori imagery but lacks any real cultural meaning, such as those that lack whakapapa or the long lines of genealogy which link all Maori at some point.
Maori-styled tattoo "kirituhi". Is simply not a "moko".

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