Traditional Dye Chemistry · Years 7–10
For thousands of years, Māori created beautiful dyes from native plants to colour flax (muka) for weaving. This was not just art — it was chemistry! Understanding how plants produce colour, how to extract dyes, and how to make them permanent involves real science.
Made from paru (iron-rich mud) combined with tannins from tree bark
From tānekaha bark (celery pine)
From red ochre (iron oxide clay) and raurēkau bark
From raurekau or onion skins
A mordant (from Latin "to bite") is a substance that helps dye bind permanently to fibre. Without it, colours wash out!
Traditional Māori mordants:
Modern mordants: Alum, iron sulfate, copper sulfate
When iron (Fe) from paru meets tannins from bark:
Fe³⁺ + Tannins → Iron-Tannin Complex (BLACK)
This is the same reaction that makes tea go darker when there's iron in the water!
Materials:
Method:
What did this teach you about chemistry and traditional knowledge?
Level 3–4: Investigate how living and physical systems work; understand relationships between organisms and their environments; collect, interpret, and evaluate scientific evidence to explain natural phenomena.
Level 3–4: Understand how human activity affects natural environments; explore the connection between ecological health and community wellbeing; recognise the role of cultural knowledge in environmental decision-making.
Reflect on your learning. What was the most important idea? What question do you still have?
Mātauranga Māori is a sophisticated knowledge system built through centuries of careful observation, hypothesis, testing, and refinement — the same processes that define scientific inquiry. Māori knowledge of ecology, weather patterns, seasonal change, and animal behaviour guided sustainable resource management for generations before Western science arrived in Aotearoa. Understanding science through a dual-knowledge lens — bringing mātauranga Māori and Western science into dialogue rather than hierarchy — produces richer, more contextually grounded understanding. The concept of kaitiakitanga reminds us that scientific knowledge carries obligations: understanding how natural systems work means accepting responsibility for how we treat them.
This handout is designed to be used alongside other resources in the same unit. Related materials are linked in the unit planner. All content is provided — no additional preparation is required to use this handout in your classroom.