Hello my name is Mark Hall, part of the curatorial team at Perth Museum and Art Gallery up in
Scotland and I’m here at The British Museum because we're working with colleagues in conservation
and world cultures on one of our Māori Taonga a Kahu Kākāpō cloak which is the only one
of its kind in the world and which needs a bit of love and attention before it goes on
display in a new museum that's been developed in Perth.
Tēnā koutou!
Greetings everyone my name is Awhina Tamarapa, I’m a Māori descendant I’m an indigenous
person to Aotearoa New Zealand my tribal affiliations are Ngati-Kangungu and Ngatiruanui.
I’m a teaching fellow at the museum and heritage studies program at Victoria university
of Wellington.
I’m also a PhD candidate for that program my research topic explores the role of museums
and the maintenance of Māori weaving as a living cultural practice, so the Kahu Kākāpō
project is very much related and in fact I’d say that it is research in action.
I’m Anna Zwagerman and I work at Culture Perth & Kinross for Perth museum and art gallery
as the Conservation Officer.
I started my job to work on three capital projects one of which is the building of a
new museum so this is a great opportunity to be able to showcase more of the collections.
My job was to look at all the objects proposed for display in the new museum.
And I kind of heard a bit about this Māori cloak how rare and special it was because
it's the flax woven cloak covered in Kākāpō feathers.
The Kākāpō is a nearly extinct flightless parrot from New Zealand and there’s a big
conservation projects to keep the species alive.
Basically they're actively monitored etc but the time this cloak was made the Kākāpō
wasn't as rare, although it was still thought to be quite a sacred bird.
My people are from the South of New Zealand from a place called, Stuart Island which we
know as Raki ura.
It's one of the few places Kākāpō still survived today and we are their modern day
kaitiaki or guardians.
In the past we were dependent on migratory food sources like the Kākāpō and we gathered
them when their numbers were plentiful in the summer when they were breeding.
In addition to being used as a food source Kākāpō were also kept as pets by my people
where they were highly prized and their behaviour was described to be more like a dog than a
bird.
As their numbers have declined over the last 200 years because of introduced predators
and loss of habitat Taonga like this that contain Kākāpō feathers have become even
more important to my people.
So when I first looked at the cloak it was in a box folded in four and there was a bag
of detached elements on top so bits of feather bits of flax a bit of pokinikini which are
the rolled and twisted dyed strands of flax at the bottom of the cloak.
And I didn't really want to lift the whole cloak out because I was afraid it would shed
many more elements so I did the condition assessment as far as I could and I composed
a report on that and I sent it to a remedial conservator who specializes in feather conservation.
Now she got back to me to say that the expertise in feather conservation lay with The British
Museum.
So I approached The British Museum who were very interested in a partnership project.
Two conservators from The British Museum came up to Perth in July 2019 to assess the full
condition so that was the first time I saw the cloak laid out fully.
And it was in surprisingly good condition for its age.
They did a full condition assessment and wrote a report as well as a treatment proposal of
how we would treat the different elements.
The knowledge exchange is that a conservator from another museum can come to The British
Museum and develop their skills in conservation by working collaboratively with conservators
at The British Museum.
So I’m working with two conservators on this project.
So Misa devised a lot of the treatments that we are doing on the feathers and pokinikini,
whereas Nicole has devised a treatment to stabilize the structural damage to the weaving
of the flax and is focusing more on the mounting process - how we will physically mount the
cloak.
We are also in conversation with a cultural advisor in New Zealand and we have set up
a hidden Facebook group to consult with Māori weavers and show them details of what we are
doing and explaining the process and it's been really well received so far.
We're getting a lot of questions, people are very enthusiastic about the work
I’m involved in the Kahu Kākāpō project through my association with the Perth Museum
in Scotland since the time that I was a curator Māori for Te Papa.
In 2008 I had the opportunity to visit the Perth museum specifically to see the Kahu
that we just recently heard about.
Since then we've collaborated together to generate information about the Kahu Kākāpō
to share more broadly with people.
So what is important about this project for us today I think involve the way in which
we look at the Kahu Kākāpō as an enduring symbol of a highly valued cultural treasure.
Kahu Kākāpō symbolizes Māori ways of knowing and being which is enacted by Māori.
The concept of keeping Taonga warm refers to the identification, the connection and
guardianship of Taonga by Māori in particular descendants where known.
Also the principle of Mana Taonga is important that is the recognition of living connections
to Taonga that descendants have and this is pivotal for museums to understand.