A Māori curator wants a repatriated kahu kiwi cloak that has spent around 160 years in Australia to be stored at Auckland Museum to ensure its preserved state, but it's set to be auctioned off.
It's the first time the cloak has returned to New Zealand since its owners moved to Australia some 160 years ago.
The cloak was registered by Auckland War Memorial Museum under the Protected Objects Act, which means the taonga can only be sold in Aotearoa.
It was at this time that Auckland Museum Pouārahi/Māori curator Kahutoi Te Kanawa said she offered for the museum to take care of the taonga.
"We pleaded that he [the owner] considers that the cloak... the kahu kiwi, get's either gifted or we could make an offer.
"He didn't want to gift it, and we made an offer, and he [the owner] essentially said that it's too late."
The item was instead handed over to Auckland-based auction house Webb's.
Speaking to Te Karere, Webb's director of decorative arts Benjamin Erren said the family had decided it was time for the taonga to return home.
"Their family had had their time with it, and it was time for it to move on to another family to be the custodian of this beautiful piece."
Both Erren and Te Kanawa said not much is known about the exact origins of the cloak or why it was gifted to the family in the first place.
"We believe it was given as a gift to the great-great grandfather, and obviously passed down the generations," Erren said, who estimates the value of the cloak to be between $30,000 to $50,000.
However, Te Kanawa said the value of the cloak should be measured in the amount of prestige there is behind items such as kahu kiwi.
"When certain feathers are put on the cloak, it is about the taonga, but it's also about the mana of the bird.
"When you measure the value of that mana up against commodification, or dollars... to me, it's the wrong intention."
By Ethan Oneroa, Taroi Black
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