The name toroa comes from the effortless gliding flight of this manu, which was said to have been brought to Aotearoa from the 12th heaven by Tāwhaki following his battles with Whiro.
Their white feathers were among the adornments prized by Māori and kept in small carved wooden boxes, as with huia feathers.
Toroa feathers were used to make headdresses worn by rangatira, in making kites and to decorate cloaks and waka. The feathers were used as face decorations by being worn through the pierced nose septum.
Toroa wing bones were used to make tattooing tools, nose flutes, necklaces and earrings.
A young toroa would be taken from its parents and kept as a pet in a seaside village – sometimes breaking its pinions to prevent it flying away – ensuring a ready supply of feathers as well as eggs and flesh.
Toroa have salt glands and ducts connected to their bills that act as desalination systems, which makes them able to drink seawater. Their salt secretions are commemorated in a distinctive weaving pattern used in cloaks, mats and wall panels called roimata toroa – albatross tears.
Various stories and whakataukī refer to the seagoing travels of the toroa, its spiritual origins and its brilliant white plumage. ‘Me he toroa e tau ana i runga i te au’ – like a toroa gliding on the updraft – and ‘me he toroa ngunungunu’ – like a toroa nestling its head under its wing – are both compliments comparing people to the physical grace of the toroa.
Toroa feathers are a symbol of peace for Taranaki iwi. To wear a single white toroa feather in the hair was adopted as a tikanga by 19th century Taranaki prophets and political leaders Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi as a sign of their movement centred on Parihaka. They led a campaign of peaceful resistance to being unfairly evicted from their homelands to make way for Pākehā settlers.
Image: The northern royal albatross (Diomedea sanfordi) by Bernard Spragg. NZ.
