Maori canoe remains lifted from Auckland beach

Photo / Ian Phillips

The remains of an old Maori canoe discovered by a passer-by were lifted from a beach today and taken to an Auckland Regional Council depot for assessing.

The canoe, described as a waka tiwai, a type of craft used normally for fishing and river travel, was found on Friday at the southern end of Muriwai Beach.

Head ranger Scott Da Silva said a local person noticed something sticking out of the sand on the west coast beach and, on closer inspection, saw it was more than just a piece of driftwood.

ARC historic heritage specialist Robert Brassey said the canoe, which was made from a single piece of kauri, had appeared to have been washed up in a damaged condition and then buried in about 1.5m of sand, which had helped to preserve it.

He said it was difficult to date the canoe, because it might have been made from a tree that was hundreds of years old and there was no other datable material associated with it.

However, it was likely to be pre-European.

It measured about seven to eight metres in length, of which a section of about two to three metres was intact.

"It would need conservation treatment to preserve it," Mr Brassey said.

"Some of the sides are missing, but it has the potential to be preserved."

He said what happened to the canoe would be up to the local iwi.

A timber conservation specialist, Auckland University senior research fellow Dilys Johns, would assess the find and make a recommendation to iwi.

- NZPA