Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
Open every day 10am-6pm
(except Christmas Day)
Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
Find out about the history of collecting kōiwi in Aotearoa, get to know some of the key people who collected and traded them, and learn about the development of our local repatriation movement.
Repatriation is becoming an integral part of museology in Aotearoa New Zealand. Its importance is also growing internationally due to the work of indigenous peoples and those who support the return of kōiwi tūpuna back to their people.
In order to appreciate the importance of repatriation, it is crucial to understand its historical context. To do this, we must go back to the beginning, to when ancestral remains were originally taken, removed, excavated, traded, and stolen.
The repatriation or return of human remains back to their whānau (family), hapū (sub-tribe), and iwi (tribe) has always been part of te ao Māori (the Māori world).
In 2020, the repatriation movement in Aotearoa New Zealand grew, with all major museums and many regional museums actively involved in returning human remains from their collections.
