New book brings taonga long lost to NZ out into the light

A cloak from Wanganui which features in the book. Photo / Supplied

A new catalog of Maori taonga published this month has for the first time brought together many artefacts held by the British Museum, some dating back to Captain Cook's three voyages in the late 18th century.

Two of the authors of Taonga Maori in the British Museum, Roger Neich and Mick Pendergrast, were known for their work at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. They both died last year.

The third author, Dorota Starzecka, is a former curator of the Oceanic collections at the British Museum.

The taonga collection has more than 2300 items and comes out of a promise the museum made after a major 1998 exhibition that Maori should know what was held in London.

Everything from waka, lintels, hei-tiki, treasure boxes, kete and clothes to weapons, tools, burial chests and models of pataka (storehouses) is shown photographically, with research about what is known of the history and provenance of the piece.

Information about human remains is given without photographs. One entry for a preserved human head, or mokomokai, describes a male whose skin is cut, torn and stitched in four places.

There is such scant information about some objects, including the mokomokai, that curators and academics have been left with a historical record full of holes.

They know it originates from the west coast of the North Island and the authors note it that may have been given to the museum by a John Lubbock.

In a letter dated April 6, but with no year, Mr Lubbock wrote to a museum scholar and benefactor: "My dear Franks, I have sent the Museum a New Zealand head which I believe rather a good specimen of tattooing. If however you do not care to keep it, perhaps you will advise me next time I see you where I had better send it."

The earliest pieces date from Captain Cook's three voyages between 1768 and 1780. One example probably from this period is a 4.35-metre flax sail adorned with kaka feathers and remnants of dog hair. It's thought to be the only one of its kind left.

Te Papa's director of Matauranga Maori, Arapata Hakiwai, said going through the collection was spine-tingling.

"These things are old. They're a real part of our cultural heritage, and yet they have been unknown for so long.

"What this does is bring them back into the world of light," he said.

"Not only are they exquisite in terms of works of art, but the histories and the encounters that they represent are really significant. I think all Maori are going to really, really love it."

But the collection also represents the encounters and interests of Pakeha who interacted with Maori during the early part of the country's history - colonial administrators such as Sir George Grey, missionaries, militiamen and traders.

Mr Hakiwai said the book served as a form of "virtual repatriation" of material culture held by the museum so that even if New Zealanders couldn't physically be close to the objects, they could at least access the images and their history.

Asked if there were any chance of some of the items travelling here for good or on loan, Mr Hakiwai said good working relationships between institutions, iwi and hapu could make that happen but there was also a need for taonga to serve as ambassadors overseas.

British Museum director Neil MacGregor said the Maori collections were among the most frequently visited in the department of Africa, Oceania and the Americas.

Taonga Maori in the British Museum by Dorota C. Starzecka, Roger Neich and Mick Pendergrast, published by Te Papa Press, RRP $99.99.