Maori heads to be returned to NZ

LONDON - Two preserved Maori heads are to be removed from storage in a Scottish museum and returned to New Zealand after a request for their repatriation was met today.

The tattooed heads, toi moko, are currently stored in Perth Museum, along with an 18th Century kakapo feather cloak and about 65 other taonga (treasure), such as tools, carvings and jewellery.

At a meeting today, Perth and Kinross Council's lifelong learning committee agreed unanimously to honour the request from Te Papa.

A council spokeswoman said committee members were "very supportive of the return of the ancestral remains to their home culture".

"There was a great recognition of the sacred nature of the toi moko to the Maori people and the fact that the significance of the remains outweighed any benefit there would be to them remaining in the UK," she told NZPA.

The council had questioned whether the return of the heads would set a precedent for similar requests in the future and what impact it could have on maintaining museum collections, she said.

"But from the council's point of view, the cultural significance of the heads was such that it warranted their return and they will consider all future repatriation requests on an individual basis."

Te Papa had not requested the return of any of the other Maori artefacts.

Te Papa representatives will travel to Scotland later this year to collect the heads, along with three others from a Glasgow museum whose repatriation has already been agreed.

The taonga were taken by Perth-born ship surgeon David Ramsay in 1822 and arrived in Scotland three years later.

Efforts to return the items were initiated by Lower Hutt man Stewart Reid, a Scottish-born doctor who found them listed in the museum catalogue on a visit back to Scotland in the 1980s.

Since then Dr Reid has spoken to governor-generals, heads of museums and politicians to foster an interest in getting the artefacts home.

Te Papa's policy on human remains is that they should be returned to New Zealand if possible.

It is believed that more than 200 heads remain in overseas institutions.

The biggest known collection outside New Zealand is held by the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Te Papa holds about 55 heads in a wahi tapu section, which is under restricted access.

- NZPA