Waka Tīwai Welcomed Home After 55 Years Away

TE POU KŌRERO - HŌTOKE 2024

Aotea Utanganui Museum reverberated with karakia and waiata, welcoming back taonga from Wairarapa. 

The waka tīwai was housed in Masterton in since 1969. 

Last month, Rangitāne o Wairarapa and Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa iwi guided the taonga on its final journey to the Museum on behalf of Ngāti Ruanui and Ngaa Rauru. 

Now repatriated, the waka will take pride of place in the museum’s extended Waterways exhibition. The 7.3m craft, made from a hollowed-out log, was used for transport on the Waitōtara River before it was sold around 1920.