Taiaha, a Maori warrior weapon. A long wooden club with a pointed arero or tounge end and a flat bladed end. The arero end is considered the head.;Given to the Grand Rapids Public Museum by Harriet Dively who was for many years a member of the National Staff of Camp Fire Girls. When Miss Edith M. Kempthorne retired as National Field Secretary of National Camp Fire Girls Inc., and was about to return to New Zealand in 1949, she presented the spear to Harriet Dively. A native of New Zealand, Miss Kempthorne graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London, England and from there went to Alaska. In order to supplement funds needed to take a college course at Ames, Iowa, lectures on New Zealand were given and the spear she had brought with her from her homeland was one of the visual aids.
