Museum Notebook: Suitcase documents found in England come home

Whānau from Kaiwhāiki welcome the Charles Smith papers into the collection. Ki muri (back row): Luana Tawaroa, Hera Peina, Katrina Hawira, Haimona Rzoska Ki mua (front row): Reti Wisneski, Makareta Tawaroa, Teresa Peeti, Wipaki Peeti. Photo / Whanganui Regional Museum 2017

If you visit the Whanganui Regional Museum, you can see and read about Te Ringa Mahi Kai, the taiaha (fighting staff) that Te Hāmārama of Whanganui used to defeat Tūwhare in battle.

Another less well-known weapon that was given to Te Hāmārama, is on the other side of the world. Ngā Karu o Niu Tīreni is a hoeroa, a fighting staff made from the rib of a whale and intricately carved at one end. It is in the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, England. According to archival material that belonged to Whanganui settler Charles Smith, Te Karu o Niu Tīreni was given to Te Hāmārama by Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, the first Māori King.

Pōtatau! Te Hāmārama! Tūwhare! How impressive Te Ringa Mahi Kai and Ngā Karu o Niu Tīreni would look if reunited in Whanganui!

But why did this hoeroa travel so far away and who is Charles Smith?

Born in Wiltshire, England in 1833, Charles Smith was 26 years old when he voyaged to Aotearoa and settled on Te Kōrito, a farm across the awa (river) from the thriving papakāinga (village) of the Ngā Paerangi people at Kaiwhāiki.

Smith ran sheep, cattle and pigs and traded store goods. He never married, but he made good friends, including the principle chief Te Oti Takarangi, his cousin Wiremu Pātene and nephew Tāmati Takarangi, of Kaiwhāiki. They called him Te Mete, a transliteration of Smith.

Samuel Drew, the founder of our museum, was another friend, and Smith was a regular donor to the museum. He collected taonga Māori and natural history specimens to display in his house. He also sent taonga to a sister and a nephew in England. In 1923, the nephew sold the collection of taonga (artefacts) to the Pitt Rivers Museum.

When uri (descendants) and former museum director Sharon Dell heard about this significant local taonga, a small delegation visited Pitt Rivers Museum in 2006 to see them. In 2013, more uri and Michelle Horwood (former curator at the museum) travelled to see their taonga and gather data. Although some taonga had labels with information, others did not.

In 2016, Claire Fazan of Twickenham in Middlesex discovered an old suitcase full of handwritten letters, other papers and images. She thought they may be important and googled the name that appeared often – Kaiwhāiki – and contacted our museum for information. As luck would have it, she had married a descendant of a sibling of Charles Smith.

Recognising that the letters and ephemera would be of great significance to the iwi (tribe) of Ngā Paerangi, the museum became the repository for these archives. Mrs Fazan sent the archives to the museum, and whānau from Kaiwhāiki joined museum staff to welcome the archival material into the collection.

Printed map of the area of land between Number Three Line and the Tunuhaere and Kaiwhāiki blocks, with blocks of land identified by number and name of the residents, and some hand written details. Whanganui Regional Museum Collection ref: 2017.34.1 MS 304/4/2

That day, while reading the Māori and English letters, I was excited when I read the name and background of the hoeroa. One page included information about when Te Kiritahi (the meeting house at Kaiwhāiki) was built. "… Niu flag & pole called Potatau were erected 1863 … by Hamarama & Pehi & Hori Patene and kept by Takarangi till they were captured at Kaiwhaiki by Police from Wanganui town."

Takarangi was taken prisoner and the hoeroa was taken to Miriama Te Kahu of Whangaehu, who hid it. In 1885, Tamati took the hoeroa to W Smith for safekeeping. This is probably William Smith, Charles Smith's neighbour and farm manager, with whom he worked very closely. Tamati also informed Takarangi where the hoeroa was. A sentence in the letter clearly states, "Takarangi did not wish them to be sold."

So why did the hoeroa end up at Pitt Rivers Museum?

There is a mystery to be solved here, and perhaps the papers in te reo Māori in this collection will give us the answer.

• Āwhina Twomey is the Kaitiaki Taonga Māori and Kaiwhakaako Māori at Whanganui Regional Museum.