posthumous awarding of Papakura\u2019s Master of Philosophy degree<\/a> at the University of Oxford on Saturday. The awarding of the degree comes almost 100 years after she began her anthropological research and wrote a thesis on M\u0101ori culture from an indigenous female perspective.<\/p>\nTaking M\u0101ori culture to the world <\/p>\n
Jim Schuster, representing the Rangitiaria Schuster Wh\u0101nau Trust and the T\u016bhourangi iwi, said Papakura was part of one of the first M\u0101ori cultural groups to leave Aotearoa. <\/p>\n
She took the pou to the UK to exhibit.<\/p>\n
Schuster told the Rotorua Daily Post it originated from T\u016bhoromatakaka Wharenui at Whakarewarewa in the early 1900s.<\/p>\n
He said his great-great-grandfather Waitere travelled with Papakura\u2019s group to Sydney, as part of their bid to take M\u0101ori culture to the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cTene was using it as his demonstration piece, so he\u2019d sit there in Sydney and carve on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Papakura went to the UK from Sydney, Waitere returned to New Zealand, he said.<\/p>\n
![\"Whakairo]()
Whakairo (carver) Robert Schuster Rika restored and completed this century-old M\u0101ori pou, which was gifted to the British people in London on Thursday. Photo \/ David Poultney<\/p>\n
In his speech at the ceremony, Rika recalled receiving a phone call in 2000 from Gallop, who had found the pou in Oxford.<\/p>\n
Rika was in Edinburgh at the time and went to Oxford to look at the pou.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasically he said to me that \u2018you need to come fix it \u2026 ‘<\/p>\n
Rika said the pou was \u201cworse for wear\u201d and he promised Gallop he would restore it \u201cone day\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd this day has come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rika said going to the UK and \u201cbeing able to add my own hand to the piece\u201d was something he would \u201calways cherish\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said gifting it to the British people was a way to honour what Papakura did. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe shared our culture, she shared the values of M\u0101ori to the world, basically.\u201d<\/p>\n
He thanked the \u201cmany people\u201d who had helped make it a \u201csuccess\u201d.<\/p>\n
Gifting of pou embodies council\u2019s kaupapa <\/p>\n
The restoration and gifting project is named Te Whakapiringa, meaning the act of gathering, assembling or bringing together of cultures.<\/p>\n
British Council director for New Zealand and the Pacific, Natasha Beckman, said its kaupapa was to support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between the UK and people worldwide.<\/p>\n
She said Te Whakapiringa embodied this. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we would love is \u2026 when people are going to work every day, they walk in and see it and it serves as a reminder of why we are there and do what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"The]()
The gifting ceremony was attended by a large Te Arawa delegation who travelled from New Zealand. It included k\u0101ranga [ceremonial calls], whaik\u014drero [speeches], and waiata [song]. Photo \/ David Poultney<\/p>\n
Beckman said the council supported Rika\u2019s travel to the UK.<\/p>\n
\u201cRobert\u2019s felt incredibly compelled to not only restore but also complete the work that his tipuna [ancestor] started, Tene Waitere, and we\u2019ve just been really, really blessed to be able to help him in a small way fulfil that vision.\u201d<\/p>\n
British Council chief executive Scott McDonald accepted the gift on behalf of the British people.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis taonga [living treasure] can continue its work as a cultural ambassador, as M\u0101kereti intended over a century ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
The council thanked the trust and iwi, \u201cand acknowledge your ancestors for this remarkable gift that represents something far greater than cultural exchange\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt embodies the very essence of understanding, trust and lasting connections between peoples.\u201d<\/p>\n
Megan Wilson<\/a> is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The statement said the exchange was \u201can extraordinary act of cultural generosity\u201d honouring the legacy of Te Arawa\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[95,1558,14801,31861,39195,5205,24181,39197,39198,39194,78,1619,2720,111,43,139,69,39196,384,1858,1327,61],"class_list":["post-44277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-and","tag-been","tag-british","tag-carving","tag-centuryold","tag-council","tag-cultural","tag-extraordinary","tag-generosity","tag-gifted","tag-in","tag-london","tag-mori","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-originating","tag-people","tag-restored","tag-rotorua","tag-to"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}