Rotorua Māori carving restored and gifted to British Council in London

The gifting ceremony of a century-old Māori pou to the British Council took place on Thursday morning UK time at the British Council’s head office in London. Photo / David Poultney

A century-old Māori carving originating in Rotorua has been restored and gifted to the British people “in an extraordinary act of cultural generosity”.

The pou (post) was gifted by the Rangitiaria Schuster Whanau Trust and the Iwi of Tūhourangi to the British Council in a pōhiri on Thursday morning UK time, a council statement said.

The ceremony was attended by a large Te Arawa delegation, who travelled from New Zealand.

The 2.28m-tall, 78kg tōtara carving would be displayed at the council’s London headquarters.

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities.

The statement said the exchange was “an extraordinary act of cultural generosity” honouring the legacy of Te Arawa’s Mākereti Papakura – the first known indigenous woman to study at the University of Oxford.

It said the pou was carved in about 1910 by renowned Māori master carver Tene Waitere but was never completed.

It was taken to the UK in 1924 by Papakura.

It was rediscovered in 2000 by historian Alan Gallop, partially carved and in poor physical condition, having spent time as a grave marker and a workbench.

The pou was restored and completed by whakairo (carver) Robert Schuster Rika, a descendant of Waitere.

The timing of the gift held special resonance for the Te Arawa delegation, who were visiting the UK for the posthumous awarding of Papakura’s Master of Philosophy degree at the University of Oxford on Saturday. The awarding of the degree comes almost 100 years after she began her anthropological research and wrote a thesis on Māori culture from an indigenous female perspective.

Taking Māori culture to the world

Jim Schuster, representing the Rangitiaria Schuster Whānau Trust and the Tūhourangi iwi, said Papakura was part of one of the first Māori cultural groups to leave Aotearoa.

She took the pou to the UK to exhibit.

Schuster told the Rotorua Daily Post it originated from Tūhoromatakaka Wharenui at Whakarewarewa in the early 1900s.

He said his great-great-grandfather Waitere travelled with Papakura’s group to Sydney, as part of their bid to take Māori culture to the world.

“Tene was using it as his demonstration piece, so he’d sit there in Sydney and carve on it.”

When Papakura went to the UK from Sydney, Waitere returned to New Zealand, he said.

Whakairo (carver) Robert Schuster Rika restored and completed this century-old Māori pou, which was gifted to the British people in London on Thursday. Photo / David Poultney

In his speech at the ceremony, Rika recalled receiving a phone call in 2000 from Gallop, who had found the pou in Oxford.

Rika was in Edinburgh at the time and went to Oxford to look at the pou.

“Basically he said to me that ‘you need to come fix it … '

Rika said the pou was “worse for wear” and he promised Gallop he would restore it “one day”.

“And this day has come.”

Rika said going to the UK and “being able to add my own hand to the piece” was something he would “always cherish”.

He said gifting it to the British people was a way to honour what Papakura did.

“She shared our culture, she shared the values of Māori to the world, basically.”

He thanked the “many people” who had helped make it a “success”.

Gifting of pou embodies council’s kaupapa

The restoration and gifting project is named Te Whakapiringa, meaning the act of gathering, assembling or bringing together of cultures.

British Council director for New Zealand and the Pacific, Natasha Beckman, said its kaupapa was to support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between the UK and people worldwide.

She said Te Whakapiringa embodied this.

“What we would love is … when people are going to work every day, they walk in and see it and it serves as a reminder of why we are there and do what we do.”

The gifting ceremony was attended by a large Te Arawa delegation who travelled from New Zealand. It included kāranga [ceremonial calls], whaikōrero [speeches], and waiata [song]. Photo / David Poultney

Beckman said the council supported Rika’s travel to the UK.

“Robert’s felt incredibly compelled to not only restore but also complete the work that his tipuna [ancestor] started, Tene Waitere, and we’ve just been really, really blessed to be able to help him in a small way fulfil that vision.”

British Council chief executive Scott McDonald accepted the gift on behalf of the British people.

“This taonga [living treasure] can continue its work as a cultural ambassador, as Mākereti intended over a century ago.”

The council thanked the trust and iwi, “and acknowledge your ancestors for this remarkable gift that represents something far greater than cultural exchange”.

“It embodies the very essence of understanding, trust and lasting connections between peoples.”

Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.