New book brings taonga long lost to NZ out into the light

By Yvonne Tahana, New Zealand Herald, Saturday Mar 19, 2011

Taonga Maori in the British Museum
Dorota C.Starzecka, Roger Neich, Mick Prendergrast
Te Papa Press - rrp $99.99

A new catalogue of Maori taonga published this month has for the first time brought together many artefacts held by the British Museum, some dating back to Captain Cook's three voyages in the late 18th century.

Two of the authors of Taonga Maori in the British Museum, Roger Neich and Mick Pendergrast, were known for their work at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. They both died last year.
The third author, Dorota Starzecka, is a former curator of the Oceanic collections at the British Museum.
The taonga collection has more than 2300 items and comes out of a promise the museum made after a major 1998 exhibition that Maori should know what was held in London.

Everything from waka, lintels, hei-tiki, treasure boxes, kete and clothes to weapons, tools, burial chests and models of pataka (storehouses) is shown photographically, with research about what is known of the history and provenance of the piece.

Read the full report at New Zealand Herald online.