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Tawa is the name Maori bestowed on a remarkable man, more famously known as Captain Gilbert Mair. Through the respect he gained as a linguist, soldier, Court Assessor and humanitarian, tribal communities of the central North Island of New Zealand demonstrated their trust in Mair by presenting him with their most valued taonga – ancestral treasures. Unlike other collectors, Mair – having grown up amongst Maori – understood the importance of receiving such gifts. He ensured the associated narratives remained attached to the taonga after he passed them into the safe-keeping of the Auckland Museum in 1890.
Consequently, each taonga in the Ko Tawa exhibition (selected from Mair’s collection of 247) continues to carry a unique story, intimately linking today’s descendants to ancestral landscapes and reminding us of the rich, genealogically-deep history on which our nation is built. Ko Tawa is designed to bridge past and present: to make these unique taonga accessible to young Maori growing up away from their home-marae communities, while providing all visitors with an insight into the contemporary world of the Maori.
In depth exhibition information is provided in both the DVD and in the book entitled: Ko Tawa - Taonga From Our Ancestral Landscapes; or link to the full database, education package and associated links.
Ko Tawa te ingoa Maori o tenei tangata rongonui a Captain Gilbert Mair. He tino tohunga reo, hoia, Kaiwhatawa, tohua-tangata hoki. I roto i enei ahua ka whati nga iwi mai i Taupo ki Waiariki ki te awhi; rere ana nga tuku taonga tupuna. He rere ke atu i ana hoa kohi – i tupu ake i te iwi Maori – me te marama ki te tuka rangitira a te Maori. I mohio me haere tahi ano nga taonga me ona korero i te tukanga ke te Tamaki Paenga Hira i te tau 1890.
Koia hoki ia taonga mai i te whakaare Ko Tawa (e 247 katoa), e mau ana ia korero, nga hono ki nga uri o naea nei ki nga tupuna me nga whakapapa mai ano ki a tatou te iwi a tau nei. Ko tenei tikanga Ko Tawa he whakapiri i tenei wa te tera o onamata; ara, kia marama ai nga uri e noho tirara i Te Motu ko wai ratou. He kapu whakaata ki a tauiwi o te ao Maori.
Ko nga korereo whakamarama mo tenei whakaturanga kei roto i te DVD me te pukapuka a: Ko Tawa - Taonga From Our Ancestral Landscapes; kei runga hoki i te ipurangi www.kotawa.co.nz ka ahei koe ki te rapu i nga korero hitori mo enei taonga, nga rauemi matauranga me nga atu rauemi hei awhi hei taoutoko hoki.
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