After nearly 80 years of negotiations between Aotearoa and Austria, 64 stolen Māori and Moriori ancestral remains have finally been returned to New Zealand.
Between 1877 and 1889, an Austrian taxidermist called Andreas Reischek stole 49 ancestral remains from New Zealand.
The remains are believed to have come from the Chatham Islands, Whanganui, Canterbury, Auckland, and Northland.
Repatriation negotiations between Aotearoa and Austria started at the end of World War II.
About 150 years after the remains were stolen, a historic pōwhiri was held at Te Papa this morning to mark their return to New Zealand.
"It's a dark chapter in our history and it's just today that the ancestors are home," Te Papa’s Māori co-leader, Dr Arapata Hakiwai said.
"Ancestors were taken out of, stolen out of graves, caves, wāhi tapu,” Hakiwai said.
Andreas Reischek was an Austrian taxidermist, and a notorious grave-robber and records indicate that 49 of the 64 ancestral remains, were collected by him.
Reischek’s diary entries also showed that he was acutely aware that stealing Māori remains violated Māori beliefs.
“Reischek boasts of eluding Māori surveillance, looting sacred places and breaking tapu – he knew exactly what he was doing. His actions were wrong and dishonest,” Repatriation Advisory Panel Chair, Professor Sir Pou Temara said.
In 1930, it became knowledge that the 64 Māori and Moriori remains were housed in Vienna’s Natural History Museum when Reischek’s son published a book including Reischek’s diaries and manuscripts.
Today at the pōwhiri, Vienna’s Natural History Museum’s head of anthropology, Dr Sabine Eggers apologised for the hurt caused by Reischek’s actions.
“For me, it's something scientists should apologise in general for doing these things in the name of science,” Eggers said.
“These ancestors’ journey home has been long-awaited and is made possible by the mutual agreement of the Museum and the Austrian government,” Dr Arapata Hakiwai said.
The ancestors will be held in Te Papa’s wāhi tapu while provenance research is undertaken, followed by engagement with whānau, hapu and iwi to determine their final resting place.
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