Carving out change
Tekoteko 'Te Rango' (gable figure),
Maker unknown, North Island. Augustus Hamilton Collection. Purchased 1914. Te Papa
Carved word
Māori carvings began to incorporate writing in the mid 1800s, after missionaries introduced literacy through teaching the ‘Word of God’. This gable figure, which stood at the top of a wharenui (meeting house), names the ancestor Te Rango.