Tamaki Paenga Hira

The Maori name for the Auckland Museum is Tamaki Paenga Hira - Auckland´s memorial to fallen chiefs and their gathered taonga

Tamaki is Auckland, the net of Maki.

Paenga is to ceremonially layout, heap together on a marae, a margin, a chiefly boundary and a reference to those fallen in battle.

Hira is numerous, abundant, important, of consequence, great.

During the Taumata´s deliberations a name was sought that would capture former Director Dr Gilbert Archey´s Whaowhia (fill with treasures) and the Maori Language Commission´s 1992 title, Te Papa Whakahiku . Under the name Tamaki Paenga Hira we draw together those earlier meanings in a new name, which is uniquely of our region and universally representative of our collective history and peoples.


Taonga Maori Blog

Click to read the te reo Maori blog posts

Read te reo Maori blog posts by Maori staff about taonga (treasures) in our galleries.  Videos in Maori and in English. Go to blog »

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