Alistair Hardaker | Image: The Pitt Rivers Museum
The Pitt Rivers Museum has transferred ownership of a Māori kiwi feather cloak, held on loan since 1913, to the Ngāti Rārua o Te Wairau Society.
The Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford has transferred ownership of a Māori cloak to a community in Aotearoa New Zealand, having held it on loan since 1913.
The Kahu Kiwi (Māori kiwi feather cloak), was gifted to Dr George Cleghorn, a doctor working in the Wairau Pā region of the South Island by two members of the local iwi (community). Cleghorn’s widow, Helen, loaned it to the museum in 1913.
Ownership has now been transferred to the hapū, or sub-tribe, as represented by the Ngāti Rārua o Te Wairau Society.
The transfer was made in collaboration with the local iwi, Ngāti Rārua and Ngāti Toa Rangatira, and the descendants of Pukekohatu, te Hiko and Cleghorn.
Pitt Rivers Museums says the cloak will be temporarily held at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa until a new Wharenui, or Meeting House, is completed at the cultural centre for the hapū, Hauhunga Marae.
Dr Lorraine Eade, chair of the Ngāti Rārua o Te Wairau Society said: “To have this taonga returned after 126 years, to bring it home to the Pa, to acknowledge why it was given to Dr Cleghorn and the work he did for our people, and our opportunity to extend our knowledge in terms of traditional weaving techniques, is beyond measure.”
Professor Laura Van Broekhoven, director of the Pitt Rivers Museum said: “It has been our privilege to have cared for [the cloak] on loan here in Oxford, and we know how deeply it will be cherished at Wairau Pā. We are grateful for all the work Ngāti Rārua and Ngāti Toa Rangatira have done to ensure its safe return.”
Given to Cleghorn during his 1900 farewell to honor his advocacy and medical service for Māori at Wairau Pā, the cloak was repatriated with assistance from the Homebound Project, a charity that aids in returning ancestral remains and cultural items from UK institutions back to their originating communities.
