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After 77 years of negotiation, koiwi taken by notorious grave robber Andreas Reischek in the 1880s are being returned from Austria.
On Sunday Te Papa will welcome the Māori and Moriori ancestral remains being repatriated from the Natural History Museum, Vienna.
Repatriation Advisory Panel chair Sir Pou Temara says Reischek knew his actions were wrong and dishonest.
In his diary he boasted of eluding Māori surveillance, looting sacred places and breaking tapu.
Maori first asked for the ancestors to be returned in 1945, but it wasn’t until 1985 that they started to return after a formal request by the Maori queen, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu.
As well as the Reischek koiwi, the repatriation also includes Maori and Moriori remains associated with the Novara Expedition, Julius von Haast, Karl von Scherzer, Ferdinand von Hochstetter, Dr I W Bell, Fasana corvette, O Trautman, and Austrian Crown Prinz Rudolf.
The ancestors will be held in Te Papa’s wāhi tapu (sacred space) while provenance research is undertaken, followed by engagement with whānau, hapu and iwi to determine their final resting place.
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