Rangihoua I was commissioned by the Print Council of Australia for their annual print commission.

Rangihoua, in the northern Bay of Islands is highly significant as the site of early, prolonged contact between Maori and Pakeha.  It is the location of one of the earliest trading posts, the earliest mission station, and the first formal transfer of Maori land in New Zealand, as well as the earliest recorded church service and the earliest European school.

The Europeans arrived in December 1814.  The mission closed in the 1850’s by which time very little land was left in Maori possession.  The arrival of the Europeans at Rangihoua was the start of a process which would eventually transform the country.

The images are made from photographs taken on site layered and manipulated with scanned oft-ground etchings. The etchings were created using grasses collected from the beach at Rangihoua.