City museums caring for Taranaki taonga but kaumātua wants them home

Friday, 18 January 2019

Taonga, including human remains, linked to Taranaki are being cared for by museums outside of the region but a kaumātua would prefer they come home.

Peter Moeahu, member of Te Kaumātua Kaunihera o Ngā Whare Taonga o Puke Ariki (a council of elders connected to Taranaki's regional museum) believes institutions that hold treasured or sacred objects should hand them back. 

Moeahu said Auckland Museum and Te Papa in Wellington, two of the bigger national collections in New Zealand, were among those which housed taonga with Taranaki origins.

'There are quite a lot of items,' he said. While it was unknown how many Te Papa had, Auckland Museum has more than 100 objects.

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It appears Puke Ariki itself makes repatriation a priority when it can and rather than giving it to an institution, it returns the taonga to the people.

'When opportunities arise items held by Puke Ariki that fall outside the Taranaki region are offered back, with the help of the Puke Ariki Kaumātua Kaunihera, to those holding mana whenua from where they originated,' manager Kelvin Day said.

While no such items were returned last year, Day said in 2017, a taonga pounamu was repatriated to Ngāti Kahungunu in the Wairarapa. 

'Previously taonga have been repatriated to Otago and Tūhoe,' he said.

Day said he was aware there was 'a number of Taranaki related taonga Māori that are housed in various New Zealand and overseas museums' but did not have an exact figure.

New Zealand's national museum Te Papa is among the institutions that has special items connected to Taranaki.

This includes the ancestral remains of people from Taranaki, head of repatriation Te Herekiekie Herewini said.

'Repatriation of ancestral remains is still a very sensitive issue with iwi around the country. Te Papa does house a number of kōiwi tangata (human bones) with provenance to the Taranaki region and we are working with iwi regarding their return in the future.'

An Auckland Museum spokesperson said repatriation requests were guided by policy and considered by its iwi governance board.

'We take into account a wide range of factors including the nature of the request and who is making the request, the taonga itself, how the taonga came to be in our collection and whether repatriation addresses a historical wrong and can build stronger relationships with iwi, Māori and communities.'

A list of more than 100 taonga from the Taranaki region, which are currently in the Auckland Museum collection, had been provided to Puke Ariki for its kaumātua council to review.

'We value our relationships with iwi and other cultural institutions across New Zealand and have worked collaboratively in the past with Puke Ariki staff and their Kaumātua Kaunihera on the loan of various taonga to both their permanent and temporary displays as well as whānau requests to have taonga return to the marae for short periods.'

 One of the most high profile international repatriations in recent times was the return of the famed Motunui panels to Taranaki in March 2015. 

The five elaborately carved pātaka panels are thought to have been made between 1750 and 1820.  During inter-tribal warfare, the taonga was buried in a swamp near Motunui, north Taranaki, for safekeeping. 

After they were discovered in 1972, the panels were illegally sold to collector George Ortiz, who lived in Switzerland, and smuggled out of the country.

The New Zealand Government paid $4.5 million to secure the panels' safe return to the region.