Historical Kahu Kiwi Returning to Marlborough Iwi from British Museum

A significant 126-year-old kahu kiwi is returning to its Aotearoa home this week after more than a century abroad. A delegation from Marlborough flew to Oxford on Tuesday to retrieve the kiwi-feather cloak from the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford. The repatriation marks a major milestone for Ngāti Rārua and Ngāti Toa Rangatira, who have been working to track down taonga gifted to dignitaries between 1890 and 1930. Originally gifted in 1900 by Hapareta Rore Pukekohatu and Mere te Hiko on behalf of their iwi, the cloak was a token of gratitude for Dr George Cleghorn. Dr Cleghorn, the medical superintendent of Wairau Hospital, was renowned for his dedication to the Māori community at Wairau Pā near Blenheim. Despite administrative rules at the time, Cleghorn provided essential medical care and home visits to the iwi, often receiving reciprocity in the form of flax, moss, and kai. His widow, Helen, later loaned the cloak to the museum in 1913. Dr Lorraine Eade, chair of the Ngāti Rārua o Te Wairau Society and a descendant of the original gifting leaders, tracked the taonga to the British institution. She described the return as a joint effort between iwi and Cleghorn’s descendants. The repatriation process includes a gathering at Takapūwāhia Marae to welcome the cloak home. Upon its arrival in New Zealand, the kahu kiwi will be temporarily housed at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Its final journey will take it to Hauhunga Marae, expected around October 2027, following the completion of a new wharenui. Ngāti Rārua continues to use their taonga database to identify other historic items, including a greenstone mere also gifted to Dr Cleghorn, as they seek to reconnect with their ancestral treasures.