18 May 2017
EMBARGOED UNTIL 6am 18 MAY (NZT)
Moriori and Māori Remains Return from Germany
The Ubersee Museum Bremen Germany and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (Te Papa) are pleased 44 Moriori and
Māori ancestral remains are returning to Aotearoa New Zealand with the support of the City of Bremen.
The Ubersee Museum has undertaken a thorough investigation of up to 35 Moriori ancestral remains to confirm their
provenance to Rēkohu Chatham Islands and collector Hugo Hermann Schauinsland (1857 – 1937). Schauinsland visited New
Zealand and the Chatham Islands during 1896 and 1897. The remains include skulls, jawbones, ribs, foot bones, scapulae,
pelvises, sacra and two near complete skeletons. Another three Māori ancestors were collected, one perhaps by
Schauinsland. The provenance of the others is unclear.
The Mayor of Bremen, Dr. Carsten Sieling, says:
“In recent decades, awareness has grown in Europe and in Germany in particular that there are legal and ethical grounds
for examining precisely how and under which circumstances exhibits have been added to the collections of European and
German museums. This applies especially to human remains which were brought here from overseas during the colonial age
at the end of the 19th century. It is fortunate that our view of such things today is different from the view held a
hundred years ago. Today, we consider the acquisition of this collection to contravene human dignity. We apologise for
these actions and ask for forgiveness. We are also glad and grateful that a delegation from the Te Papa is with us in
Bremen today to take the ancestors of the Māori and Moriori back to their home!”
The remaining six Māori ancestral remains were collected and/or traded by Henry Suter (also known as Hans Heinrich
Suter), who came to settle in New Zealand in 1887 with his family from Switzerland.
Wiebke Ahrndt, Director of the Ubersee Museum, says:
“The provenance research undertaken has been able to shed light on the circumstances under which this collection was
acquired. It also made clear that there is no longer any ethical justification for retaining the ancestral remains of
the Moriori and Māori in our collections. I am delighted that the Senate of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen shares
this conviction and has deaccessioned the collection.”
Henry Suter actively corresponded with other well-known collectors of Māori remains including Thomas Frederick Cheeseman
(1845-1923). Three of the kōiwi tangata (Māori skeletal remains) have provenance to Whangaroa in Northland and are
recorded as being associated with the Ngāpuhi tribe. Other kōiwi tangata have provenance to the Tainui/Waikato regions,
and general provenance to Aotearoa New Zealand.
Dr Arapata Hakiwai, Te Papa’s Kaihautū (Māori Co-leader) says:
“Te Papa is pleased we can work in partnership with the Ubersee Museum and the Senate of the Free Hanseatic City of
Bremen. We appreciate their dedication to ensure the provenance of these ancestors is unveiled. To add, this is also a
bitter sweet occasion, as our repatriation work reveals newly established colonial museums, alongside visiting natural
historians from Europe actively participated in the trade of Māori and Moriori remains, “taken” from wāhi tapu (sacred
repositories). Our next step is to facilitate the safe return of the ancestors to their iwi (tribal groups). Many New
Zealanders are unaware of this history, and do not realise the long standing history of lack of respect offered to wāhi
tapu by colonial settlers.”
These Moriori and Māori ancestral remains are part of 59 Māori and Moriori ancestral remains returning from four
institutions in Europe.
The pōwhiri (formal welcome) will be at Te Papa on Monday 29 May 2017