29 May 2017

Pōwhiri to repatriate more remains to Te Papa

9:52 am on 29 May 2017

Nearly 60 ancestral remains of Māori and Moriori will be welcomed back from to New Zealand today.

This isn't the first time Māori ancestral remains have been returned to Te Papa

The government's repatriation programme has been returning ancestral remains to Aotearoa since 1990. Photo: Supplied/ Kate Whitley

A pōwhiri was set to be held at the national museum Te Papa Tongarewa, in Wellingotn, at 3pm this afternoon to formally acknowledge their return.

The remains have been repatriated from four institutes in Sweden, Germany and England.

They include remains from the Chatham Islands/Rekohu, from Hokianga River and Ngāpuhi remains from Whangaroa in Te Taitokerau, from Waikato, from the French Pass in the South Island and generally from across the country.

Te Papa kaihautū Arapata Hakiwai said colonial settlers had taken remains from sacred sites and actively traded them.

Representatives of the Moriori and Māori communities, government officials, and representatives from the overseas institutes will attend the pōwhiri.

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