Tainui child's mummified remains to be returned to NZ

Te Papa Museum requested the remains from the Weltmuseum Wien in 2013. File photo / supplied

The mummified remains of a Tainui child are returning home from Austria, 100 years after being taken from their burial cave during a "dark period" of New Zealand's history.

The child, believed to be a high-ranking member of the Tainui iwi, was taken by Andreas Reischek, a collector well-known for his activities to acquire both Maori remains and taonga in the late 1800s.

Te Papa formally requested the remains be repatriated from the Weltmuseum Wien (World Museum Vienna) in 2013.

Kaihautu of Te Papa Dr Arapata Hakiwai said he was thankful to the museum and the Austrian government for approving the request.

"Their genuine commitment to the repatriation of indigenous remains allows our country to resolve a very dark period in our history," he said.

A small delegation from Te Papa travelled to the museum to formally receive the remains of the child, and three other sets of remains, including nine human vertebrae with a piece of flax weaving, a coffin with skeletal remains from three different individuals, and a toi moko - a mummified, tattooed Maori skull.

The ancestors will be formally welcomed home at a powhiri at Te Papa at the beginning of next week.

They will then undergo a period of quarantine, conservation and research before being returned to their whanau.