Moriori cultural leader Kiwa Hammond leads the way as trustees Belinda Williamson and Jared Watty carry the ancestral remains to the handover ceremony. Photos: Jason McCarthy/NMA.
It was the start of a long journey home for the remains of two Moriori people on Tuesday – from the National Museum of Australia (NMA) to eventually the islands of Rēkohu and Rangihaute, also known as the Chatham Islands, south-east of New Zealand.
Two small boxes were handed over to representatives of the Hokotehi Moriori Trust, trustees Belinda Williamson and Jared Watty, at a ceremony at the museum. It marked the culmination of two years of collaboration between the NMA, Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand (known as Te Papa), and the Moriori community.
The remains will be taken to Te Papa in Wellington to be held in the museum’s sacred repository alongside more than 500 other Moriori remains.
They will be returned to their ancestral home when Moriori determine the time is right.
The remains in the two boxes, identified as Moriori through handwritten inscriptions, were originally held by the former Australian Institute of Anatomy, part of a pattern of behaviour by museums and institutions to collect indigenous remains. A global repatriation movement is now redressing this issue.
They have been with the museum since 2022 when they were returned by the Australian National University.
The story of the Moriori people is a tragic one, given they were nearly wiped out in Maori invasions of their islands in the 1830s.
An East Polynesian people, they are believed to have migrated from the New Zealand mainland in about 1500. They developed a unique language and culture in their new home, in particular a pacifist philosophy that made them an easy conquest.
Despite once considered extinct, Moriori have persisted and this repatriation of ancestors is part of rebuilding their identity.
The oldest living Moriori Flora Mitchell and Hokotehi Moriori Trust trustee Belinda Williamson sign documents for the official handover of the remains.
NMA deputy director First Nations Dr Jilda Andrews, who led the repatriation process, told the ceremony: “The legacies we all inherit are heavy and complex and they are never simple. There is no easy way to talk about these complex histories and there are no simple solutions to address the challenges that they leave us.”
She said the way forward was a collective one underpinned by purpose and justice.
“It is a pathway to restoration, regeneration, healing and strength,” she said.
Ms Williamson said her people’s story was not simply one of survival, “but one of remarkable perseverance, resilience, and the unbreakable spirit of peace that guides us still”.
“The repatriation or repatriation process we experience today is not just a return of our karapuna, our ancestors, but it’s also the reclamation of our cultural heritage, our knowledge, and the ancestral ties that were disrupted for far too long.”
Speaking after the ceremony, Ms Williamson said taking possession of their ancestors gave her peace, a sense of connection and joy that they were finally going home.
“I’m actually feeling excited to arrive back in Aotearoa and to meet others who will share in this excitement and healing process of reconnection,” she said.
Mr Watty said the repatriation was a reclamation of “our identity, our dignity, and our place in this world”.
Since the Karanga Aotearoa Repatriation Program was established in 2003, Te Papa has worked closely with the Moriori people to facilitate the return of their ancestors.
Research indicates about 550 Moriori skeletal remains have been taken from Rēkohu and Rangihaute since the late 1800s. Close to 500 Moriori karapuna have been returned through the program from institutions around the world including those in New Zealand.
But about 800 more are still held in institutions around the world.
Mr Watty said there were some in the US, at various institutions around New Zealand, and in Edinburgh, with more to be uncovered.
Asked what was the message for these institutions, Mr Watty said: “Allow our people to come home.”
The ceremony was also attended by NMA director Katherine MacMahon, the NZ High Commissioner Andrew Needs, Moriori cultural leader Kiwa Hammond, Te Papa’s Dr Arapata Hakiwai, who conducts the repatriation program, other NZ delegation members and the oldest living Moriori person Flora Mitchell, who now resides in Queensland.
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