After more than a century away from his home on the East Coast, ancestral pou Tāwhaki is being returned from Germany.
Tāwhaki was one of the poutokomanawa of Te Mana-o-Tūranga, the wharenui at Whakatō Marae in Manutūkē, about 14km west of Gisborne.
He disappeared from the marae in the late 19th century, although exactly when and how he was taken remains unknown.
Moera Brown, chair of Whakatō Marae, says Tāwhaki’s return is an amazing moment for Rongowhakaata.
“He’s been missing for a few years, but he also represents a mātauranga that we’ve lost.”
When Te Apaapa, another poutokomanawa, was repatriated from Te Papa, provenance researcher Dr Amber Aranui discovered there was a second pou - his twin pou, Tāwhaki.
“He would’ve been built around the time that Tūranga iwi were thriving,” Brown says.
Around 2023, Dr Hilke Thode-Arora, curator of the Oceania collection at the Five Continents Museum in Munich, was researching the origins of its taonga Māori collection when she came across Tāwhaki. Tanith Wirihana Te Waitohiterangi, an uri of Rongowhakaata, helped identify the pou.
This discovery sparked a relationship between the museum and Rongowhakaata. Dr Hilke visited Whakatō Marae in 2024, and Rongowhakaata has since visited their tipuna in Munich three times.
Brown says seeing Tāwhaki for the first time was an emotional experience
“That particular experience with meeting Tāwhaki was pretty pouri. So two years later, we’re excited to bring him home for the rest of his uri.”
‘Me hoki tōtika mai tō mātau tipuna’
Tāwhaki’s story was shared through He Toi Ora, an exhibition at the Five Continents Museum in Munich. Uri of Rongowhakaata worked with the museum to co-curate the exhibition.
Tairāwhiti Museum director and Rongowhakaata uri Tapunga Nepe said while hau kāinga welcomed the exhibition, their ultimate wish was to have Tāwhaki returned home.
“Tere tā mātau kī ake, ko te hiahia o te ngākau kia hoki tōtika mai tō mātau tipuna,” he says.
“Hei te otinga o taua whakakitenga ka tono mātau kia hoki mai a Tāwhaki ki te wā kāinga.”
The iwi helped close the exhibition in May 2026, with Tāwhaki now returning to Te Tai Rāwhiti on a permanent loan.
Nepe says this is a standard museum arrangement, and he is confident Tāwhaki will remain permanently with his uri.
“Me te mōhio anō a tōna wa, i roto i ngā tau ka noho tūturu rawa atu a Tāwhaki i te wā kāinga.”
He taonga anō ka hoki mai ki Te Tai Rāwhiti
Tāwhaki’s return is the second repatriation of a taonga from Germany to Te Tai Rāwhiti this year. Te Pou o Hinematioro returned from the University of Tübingen to Uawa in April.
“I para i a Hinematioro te huarahi hokihokitanga mai o ā tātau taonga.”
Nepe says repatriation has more commonly involved kōiwi and other ancestral remains rather than taonga whakairo.
“Ēnei momo taonga whakairo nei, he āhuatanga hou i roto i te hokinga taonga mai.”
Mātaamua ko te kaitiakitanga
Nepe agrees that many iwi will want to return their lost taonga home, but do communities have the resources to care for these taonga? Nepe believes there is potential.
“Ko te mātaamua pea o ēnei mahi, ko te kaitiakitanga.”
He says strong relationships with museums, curators, experts and those caring for the taonga are paramount and help make the repatriation process easier.
“Mēnā kei reira taua whanaungatanga, ka ngāwari noa te huarahi, ka kore e whakaaro ki te pūtea,” he explains.
“Ko te pūtea he mea ngāwari noa iho. Ka tae mai te pūtea, engari ko te whanaungatanga te taonga nui i roto i ērā āhuatanga katoa.”
Tāwhaki will return to Whakatō Marae on 24 October.
