The moment we got off the bus there was a lot of excitement in the air. Everyone was buzzing with happiness, we trekked through the museum doors where our guide awaited us. The guide taught us about how Moa became extinct, how they were hunted and what their main predator was. We also learnt about the HUGE Haast eagle. It had a wingspan of 2-3 meters!! That’s mad!, I’m glad it’s not around now days.
After we learnt about the Moa, we looked at display cases, and were shown ancient Maori tools and supplies such as:
-A snare (we used that in the activities later)
-Fishing hooks
-Backpacks made of flax
-spears
Everyone was intrigued by these but when we were led into this small room at the back everyone’s eyes dashed around the room. We were told that we were going to use the Maori tools that were in front of us (they were replicas that the museum had made, not real ancient tools).
There were about five drills, a largish rock with small sharp stones beside it, a greenstone axe, and some paper with a few crayons beside it.
We were told what they were used for and then given instructions on what to do. This is what the tools were used for:
-the drill was used for making holes in the wood.
-the small sharp stones were rubbed on the big stone with water to make them nice and smooth
-the greenstone axe was used for hitting wood to carve the wood out to make the inside of the waka, except today we were only using it with a small log, just for the fun.
-the paper and crayons were used for ancient maori designs, we didn’t have to sign with our names because when the Maori drew it, everyone else could identify who it was by because of the way they drew.
Overall it was truly enjoyable. We had heaps of fun while using the Maori tools and learning about the moa. We all thanked the wonderful museum staff for making it an incredible day, for not just our classes, but for the whole of Otawhito.
By Georgia Harris and Kate Hill
T34 and T30
