WELLINGTON
KŌANGA • SPRING 2022
Jasmine Hemi cradles baby Kahurangi while mum Rebecca Kiddle records every stitch and any fraying, loose stitches or damage.
Conservation of a unique national taonga A sneak peek into the Matangireia conservation project led by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga staff. WORDS: Niki Partsch
IMAGES: Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga
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small group of iwi kaitiaki (guardians) gathered in Matangireia in May to attend a special handson wānanga (learning session). This room has an important place in our history as the first Māori Affairs Committee Room at Parliament. Opened 100 years ago, Matangireia is a modest sized meeting room which, for many years, offered a dedicated space
KŌANGA • SPRING 2022
for the Native Affairs Committee, which originally included all Māori Members of Parliament. The purpose of this wānanga is for kaitiaki to re-engage with their ancestral taonga through the conservation process. Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga specialists are supporting them to learn technical conservation care techniques and the repair and maintenance of taonga
using traditional materials. Amongst the kaitiaki group are traditional arts exponent Wharehuia Te Tokoihi and architectural graduate Matangireia Yates-Francis. Wharehuia describes the feeling of stepping into this unique space. “Entering Matangireia for me felt like home in the middle of a foreign building. Built almost 100 years ago I’m in awe of what our hautupua were able achieve Heritage Quarterly
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