Duntroon and the Takiroa Maori Rock Art

We finally made a getaway from Gore, with new tyres on the back and feeling confident that we can drive normally again. We decided to make our way towards the fishing grounds at Twizel, but ended up in Oamaru instead of our intended destination of Waimate, because of road works and rolling 50 minute road closures on that road. Bruce suggested staying at Awamoko NZMCA Park, but I wasn’t keen. To me it seems to be just a paddock in the middle of nowhere, with a neighbour who complains if you get too close to her fence! Therefore, we pushed on to Oamaru township and stayed at their A&P showgrounds – another lovely setting.

They have a fully enclosed soccer field there where dog owners come to let their dogs have a good run. One one occasion there was a couple of border collies having fun chasing balls around. On another occasion there was a woman with 5 greyhounds, accompanied by a chihuahua. The greyhounds were magnificent when they hit full stride, and it was nice knowing they were running for the joy of it, and not because they had to.

It was a bit of a strange day in Oamaru. The day started off beautifully clear, but by 12pm the sea fog had rolled in and it took several hours to lift.

After exploring a bit, we headed out of town towards the dams (Benmore and Aviemore), stopping to explore the Maori Art at Duntroon.

The land around this area is very similar to that at Omarama with the clay cliffs. The clay cliff faces here have been weathered by the rain and wind into all sorts of shapes.

Unfortunately, this landscape provides an ideal habitat for pigeons. They had built there nests in all sorts of places. The place stunk of pigeon poo and the ground was covered with droppings and feathers.

The rock drawings were in a fenced off area because of the vulnerability of the cliff face. Apparently, some well meaning scientists decided to try and cut some out to take to a museum, but that destroyed some of them, so the rest have been left alone.

I remember our guide to Farewell Spit saying that the Maori, his people, were a stone-age people, and I think this is certainly true when you look at their art. The Maori are believed to have settled NZ in the 1300’s, so conceivably these drawing may have been done in the 14th century BC.

Compare this to European art of the 13th century – no comparison really. I think that is what geographical isolation does for civilisation.

This painting is a portion of one called ” The position of Mary in the Tomb” believed to be painted in 1311