About this item
- Title
- Tapa cloth made in New Zealand
- Content partner
- Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
- Collection
- Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand
- Description
Although some Tongans no longer speak the language, most continue to have a strong sense of identity and they have learnt to adapt Tongan traditions to the New Zealand setting. For example in 1996, 14 Tongans, who called themselves ‘Ilo Me‘a Fo‘ou’ (New Creations), made this tapa cloth in Upper Hutt. In the absence of the paper mulberry bark which is used in Tonga, they used synthetic felted material purchased from a fabric shop and pasted together.
- Format
- Image
- Date created
- 4 March 2009
- Contributing partner
- Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
- URL
- https://teara.govt.nz/en/object/1264/tapa-cloth-made-in-new-zealand
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Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage has this to say about the rights status of this item:
http://www.teara.govt.nz/copyright, Crown Copyright administered through the New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Taonga. All text licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 New Zealand Licence unless otherwise stated. Commercial re-use may be allowed on request. All non-text content is subject to specific conditions. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Reference: I.006634 Permission of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa must be obtained before any re-use of this image.
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What can I do with this item?
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If you believe this item breaches our terms of use please report this item
Report this itemDigitalNZ brings together more than 30 million items from institutions so that they are easy to find and use. This information is the best information we could find on this item. This item was added on 30 April 2013, and updated 26 November 2025.
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