Reportage
New Zealand recovers several bones and skeletons of Maori and Moriori ancestors
Audio 01:20
As often during the "pōwhiri", these traditional Maori ceremonies, there was great emotion when recovering the bones of their "tūpuna", the ancestors of the Maori.
© NATIONAL MUSEUM TE PAPA
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
After 77 years of waiting, the National Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa, has recovered several bones and skeletons of Maori and Moriori ancestors, the very first inhabitants of New Zealand.
Human remains exhumed and stolen by an Austrian taxidermist in the 19th century.
A delegation from Vienna had made the trip to return these human remains to the indigenous communities of New Zealand.
Report on the restitution ceremony.
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With our correspondent in Wellington,
Richard Tindiller
As often during the "pōwhiri", these traditional Maori ceremonies, there was great emotion when recovering the bones of their "tūpuna", the ancestors of the Maori.
Te Arikirangi Mamaku-Ironside leads the repatriation program for the National Museum of New Zealand.
He explains why his actions are now necessary in our contemporary societies: “
I think it is really important for museums to look in the mirror and reflect on the origins of their collections.
In situations where the collections come from, for example, a colonial context, then it requires special attention to whether or not these objects have a place in a museum.
»
Another 600 remains around the world
In total, the remains of 64 people were donated by the Natural History Museum in Vienna.
"
This 'collection', as they may call it in museums, is much more important here in New Zealand, than it will ever be for science or otherwise in Vienna
," says Sabine Eggers, who heads the collection. International Museum of Vienna and who was in charge of this restitution on the Austrian side.
Since 2003, New Zealand has recovered nearly 800 ancestral remains.
She now hopes to repatriate the remaining 600 around the world.
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