Pou carved in 1870s return to Hawke’s Bay from Australian museum

The pou have been in the South Australian Museum since 1891 and will return to Tamatea Pōkai Whenua in September. Photo / South Australian Museum

Two pou that have spent more than 130 years at the South Australian Museum in Adelaide will soon return home to Hawke’s Bay Treaty settlement entity Tamatea Pōkai Whenua.

They are part of a set of more than 60 pou that were carved for Te Whare o Heretaunga in the 1870s, commissioned by rangatira and parliamentarian Karaitiana Takamoana.

The wooden carvings, set to return next month, have been in the museum’s Pacific collections since 1891 after they were bought by Adelaide museum director Edward Charles Stirling in Dunedin.

The South Australian Museum is the first international institution to return carvings from Te Whare o Heretaunga.

Tamatea Pōkai Whenua chair Pōhatu Paku said the return represented more than just bringing the carvings home.

“It is about upholding tikanga, restoring mana, and reconnecting the generations.

“They carry the wairua of our tīpuna and the hopes of our mokopuna. Their journey home is part of our own journey as a people.”

Tamatea Pōkai Whenua chief executive Dr Darryn Russell said Rose Mohi, who is the great-great-granddaughter of Karaitiana Takamoana, tirelessly traced and visited taonga held in museums across the world to find the pou.

“Her unwavering aroha and commitment to her tīpuna was instrumental in confirming the whakapapa and rightful provenance of the pou.

“Without the legacy of Rose and those who carried this kaupapa before us, this moment would not be possible.”

Former Otago Museum curator Dimitri Anson also played a pivotal role in identifying the true origins of these carvings, correcting long-standing misattributions.

Russell said another person who had given scholarship and guidance was Dr Amber Aranui (Te Papa Tongarewa), whose leadership in repatriation work nationally had shaped the journey and upheld the tikanga of the return.

South Australian Museum Aboriginal heritage and repatriation manager Anna Russo said the museum’s board’s decision to return the pou was in response to a request from Tamatea Pōkai Whenua received in 2024.

This request was carefully assessed against the criteria set out in the museum’s restitution of cultural heritage policy, Russo said.

“The pou have significant meaning to the traditional custodians and this is one of the criteria by which cultural items can be considered for return.”

Russo said the museum’s new relationship with Tamatea Pōkai Whenua has meant the pou’s final display at the museum has labels written by the iwi that tell a full history in English and Māori.

Rangatira and parliamentarian Karaitiana Takamoana commissioned the building of Te Whare o Heretaunga. Photo / South Australian Museum

Six of seven New Zealand museums approached by Tamatea Pōkai Whenua have now formally supported the return of carvings from Te Whare o Heretaunga, including Te Papa Tongarewa, Tūhura Otago Museum, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Canterbury Museum, Whanganui Regional Museum and MTG Hawke’s Bay.

Together, they represent 32 of the 62 known pou.

The history and the journey home to Heretaunga

Commissioned in the 1870s by Takamoana, a key figure in the Repudiation movement of Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Whare o Heretaunga was envisioned to be a place of gathering, learning, and identity.

The whare was being built at the Pakōwhai Pa at the confluence of the Ngaruroro and Waipūreku rivers, with the pou carved by Hone Taahu and Hoani Ngatai of Ngāti Porou.

But after Takamoana died in 1879, work on the whare build stopped.

The pou were acquired by Dr Thomas Hocken and shipped from Heretaunga to Dunedin and displayed in the 1889/90 New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition.

A small delegation from Tamatea Pōkai Whenua will travel to Adelaide in September. Before their journey home on September 2, a farewell ceremony will take place in the front foyer of the museum.

The pou will be freighted to New Zealand via International Art Services, an Australian indigenous-owned company specialising in transporting sensitive cultural material around the world.

A decision is yet to be made on where the pou will be kept upon their return to Hawke’s Bay.

“The board continues to juggle the moving timeframes and decision-making processes of multiple institutions domestically and internationally,” Russell said.

Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based in the Hastings newsroom. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and loves sharing stories about farming and rural communities.