'Māori staff snaffled up': Whanganui Regional Museum brings in succession plan

Whanganui Regional Museum is moving to grow Māori curatorial expertise. Photo / Moana Ellis

The Whanganui Regional Museum is putting in place a succession plan for curation of the collection of taonga Māori in its care.

The museum last month brought in a tangata whenua collective to provide curatorial services for the taonga Māori collection, which the museum describes as internationally significant.

Known as Pou Rauhī, the collective is from Whanganui-based Māori research institute Te Atawhai o te Ao and is led by Dr Rāwiri Tinirau.

Tinirau said a new role being created at the museum would allow a young person to learn on the job.

"The role for the Pou Rauhī itself is .5. We thought it would be really cool to have someone who's able to do some of the mahi on the ground within the museum and provide some vitality within that beautiful taonga collection.

"But also to learn from those experts within the museum who are experts in their own fields. I think that this arrangement provides for that opportunity."

Museum director Dr Bronwyn Labrum said the arrangement was similar to succession planning.

Determined to boost care for taonga Māori at the museum, Labrum initially sought to recruit a full-time Māori curator but was unsuccessful.

The idea for a curatorial team was a solution for the scarcity of Māori curators and meant the museum could benefit from wide-ranging local knowledge, experience and connections throughout the region, she said.

"My aim now, with the help of the Pou Rauhī, is to recruit an entry-level person to fill the other .5 to grow someone," Labrum said.

"Part of the problem in the sector is that Māori staff keep being snaffled up for iwi purposes and for other reasons and there's not a lot of training and development going on.

"I'm hoping we can appoint someone young for the other half of the role to work alongside them [the Pou Rauhī] and kind of learn the ropes."

• Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air