The Taonga Files opens with a journey into Aotearoa’s colonial past, tracing the origins of the country’s first national museum and the taonga Māori caught within its early collecting practices. Join curators Amber Aranui and Migoto Eria as they uncover how taonga were catalogued, misplaced, and silenced — and how provenance research today is helping restore their stories, whakapapa, and connections to iwi, hapū, and whānau. A powerful blend of history, detective work, and truth-telling, this episode lays the foundation for a series dedicated to giving voice back to taonga.

Link to Amber's Blog

Glossary

Aotearoa — New Zealand

Hapū — Sub-tribe; a kinship group descended from a common ancestor.

Hāpai Ahurea — “Cultural uplift/support”; Te Papa’s strategic priority centred on Māori communities and cultural practice.

Iwi — Tribe; a large kinship group descended from a founding ancestor.

Mātauranga Māori — Māori knowledge systems; traditional and contemporary Māori ways of understanding the world.

Mana — Spiritual authority, prestige, or power.

Māori — Indigenous people of Aotearoa.

Motu — The country or nation; often meaning “islands” or “the whole country.”

Taonga — Treasures; cultural items, heirlooms, or objects of deep significance.

Taonga Māori — Māori cultural treasures.

Te Papa Tongarewa (Te Papa) — National Museum of New Zealand; “Container of Treasures.”

Te Tiriti o Waitangi — The Treaty of Waitangi (1840), the foundational agreement between Māori and the Crown.

Waka — Canoe

Whakapapa — Genealogy; interconnected relationships between people, land, and taonga.

Whānau — Family; extended family network.

Whenua — Land; also placenta, emphasising the connection between people and the land.