Offensive exhibit stays on display
Canterbury Museum has no plans to cover or remove an exhibit that for 28 years has misrepresented Ma¯ ori as ‘‘cave men’’, before it can be replaced in a proposed building upgrade.
This week former museum board member Dave Brennan revealed local Ma¯ori had been offended by the exhibit for at least
15 years.
He suggested to the board in
2005 that Iwi Ta Whito, Whenua Hou – Ancient People, New Land, representing moa-hunting Ma¯ ori, should be removed.
The exhibition opened in 1992 and claims to depict the first people to live in the South Island, moa and other extinct birds from neolithic times, in three dioramas.
‘‘The first impression you get, the minute you look at those, you think you are dealing with prehistoric man . . . that’s the concept you get,’’ Brennan said.
Museum director Anthony Wright said the exhibit only told a ‘‘small part of a long and proud story of Aotearoa’s first people’’ and there was ‘‘little recognition in the galleries that Ma¯ ori are a living culturally vibrant people’’.
Despite this, museum trust board chairman David Ayers said no decision had been made on when the exhibit would be removed.
‘‘But the assumption is that this would happen when the proposed redevelopment starts.’’
The museum needs to raise a further $70 million for the $195m project and undertake public consultation. It was aiming to lodge a resource consent application at the end of this year, Ayers said.
Nga¯i Tahu man Matene Te Kauariki, 32, who recently attended a Black Lives Matter protest in Christchurch, said the distorted representation of the exhibit made young Ma¯ ori in the region the object of ridicule and reeked of colonialism.
‘‘When you walk in there with your school mates, and they are like look, that’s your history, that’s funny . . . we would laugh at it.
‘‘Realistically the child doesn’t know any different. When you go to a museum you think you are getting something factual.’’
Te Kauariki said there was nothing that represented the bravery and intelligence of the first Ma¯ ori.
To address offence caused to some iwi and visitors, the museum had agreed to an interim step of partially masking the first diorama, Ayers said.
Indigenous rights activist and Nga¯ti Porou woman Tina Ngata said the hurtful exhibit should come down immediately.
‘‘The iwi in question have made it quite clear they are deeply hurt. So there are only two scenarios here; one is they are not listening to the hurt and are ignoring the hurt, or they hear the hurt and they don’t care about it.’’