Museum notebook: Pūtātara and the tale of lost friends

Lisa Reweti playing a pūtātara made from a conch shell with a carved rimu mouthpiece, made from some old timber from the museum building, and harakeke binding by Warren Warbrick in 2019. Photo / Karen Hughes

OPINION

Ages and ages ago, two enormous creatures lived in the moana (ocean). They were the best of friends. Mako the shark was bigger than Megalodon and Tuatara the lizard was bigger than Brontosaurus.

They loved to eat. The more they ate the bigger they grew. The bigger they grew, the more they needed to eat. But it wasn’t sustainable. The other creatures in the ocean were starving.

Tangaroa, the guardian of the moana, called a hui. He spoke to Mako and Tuatara. “One of you must go and live on the land. The moana isn’t big enough for the two of you.”

Mako, who was helpful, put his fin up first. “I will live on the land” he said, “and I will be the first forest-dwelling, tree-climbing shark ever. Tuatara laughed. “That’s ridiculous”, he said. “You are a shark. The ocean is your home. I have legs. I can walk. I will live on the land.”

Mako and Tuatara knew they would never see one another again. They said their goodbyes and with a flick of his tail, Mako turned and swam out into the deepest part of the ocean.

Tuatara swam to the shore. As he walked out of the ocean and on to the beach, something magical happened. Tuatara began to shrink. He grew smaller and smaller until he reached the size he is today. Mako and Tuatara never saw one another again.

Many Māori believe that Mako and Tuatara still speak with one another through the pūtātara. A pūtātara is a shell trumpet.

The shell represents Mako and the moana. The wooden mouthpiece represents Tuatara and the forest and when the pūtātara is played, Mako and Tuatara are talking to each other.

It reminds us of the tenuous relationship between the whenua (land) and the moana (ocean).

Pūtātara in Aotearoa New Zealand were so rare that when one was played, everyone knew who was playing it and where they were from.

Large conch shells were found in places like Samoa and Tonga and are used by Pasifika peoples for their shell trumpets.

Conches are found in Aotearoa too. Small indigenous conch shells (Charonia lampas rubicunda) were used for smaller pūtātara.

The larger knobbed triton shell (Charonia tritonis) was also used for pūtātara. It grows in much deeper water than the conches found in the Pacific, too deep for a diver without modern diving equipment to collect.

These triton shells were often found washed up on beaches at the top of the North and South Islands after a storm, and were much valued for making larger pūtātara.

A pūtātara is on exhibition in Ngā Waihonohono in the Whanganui Regional Museum, part of the John Barnicoat Wall Memorial Collection.

It is made from a knobbed triton shell, with a carved wooden waha (mouthpiece) attached to the shell with harakeke (NZ flax) binding and secured with black resin. You can also listen to how a pūtātara sounds.

Remember, next time you hear a pūtātara being played, perhaps you will be listening to a conversation between two long-lost friends, Mako the shark and Tuatara the lizard.

• Lisa Reweti is programmes presenter at Whanganui Regional Museum.