Museum Notebook: Whānau memories flood back in exhibition

Hāriata Te Kahuwaero photographed by William Henry Thomas Partington. Whanganui Regional Museum Collection Ref: 2003.1.9b

The fourth in a series of iwi exhibitions developed in partnership with the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, the Whanganui iwi exhibition Te Awa Tupua opened there on November 29, 2003.

Hundreds of people from Whanganui attended, and my sister Katherine and I were both at the dawn opening ceremony with our grandmother Maudie Reweti. It was on that day that I fell in love with all things museum. Six months later I moved to Wellington and got a job at Te Papa as a visitor host.

In the centre of the Te Awa Tupua exhibition was a darkened circular room. The walls were covered with photographs of elders. One of the photographs, in particular, caught my eye and I did a double-take.

With her strong features, high cheekbones and stern expression, I recognised the woman in the photograph. She had hair just like mine which cascaded over her korowai (cloak with tassels) in soft waves.

Her name was Hāriata Te Kahuwaero. And she was my great-great-grandmother. But when I looked at the label beside the photograph, it read Hanata Teki which is incorrect. While I had no proof that the woman in the photo was my tūpuna, my ancestor, I called the curator of the exhibition to let them know. Then I called my grandmother and told her there was a photograph of her grandmother at the museum. Hāriata's name was corrected within the week.

The very same photograph is featured in a current exhibition at the Whanganui Regional Museum He Kitenga Kanohi, He Hokinga Mahara | Memories Flood Back which showcases a series of portraits of Whanganui Māori photographed by William Henry Thomas Partington.

Lisa Reweti with the photograph of Hāriata Te Kahuwaero at the Whanganui Regional Museum. Photo / Supplied

Born in Auckland in 1855, Partington moved to Whanganui in 1892 after his photography studio in Auckland was destroyed by a fire. He had a studio in Whanganui in the upstairs area of Mr Remington's shop in the Caxton Building on Victoria Ave. Partington contributed work to tourism magazines, newspapers and postcards.

Of Ngāti Tūwharetoa descent, Hāriata Te Kahuwaero was born near Tūrangi in 1859 and raised near Korehe Marae.

Back in those days if you were the daughter of a rangatira (chief), your marriage was arranged by your father. Taumau means arranged marriage. Hāriata married a Pākeha called Charles Davis and they had one son. Hāriata then married Te Aho Herekiekie, who deserted her and left her in Turakina.

Haimona Te Utupoto and Hāriata Te Kahuwaero. With permission of Reweti whānau of Pūtiki

She was married for a third time to Haimona Te Utupoto at the marae in Whangaehu. He was my great-great-grandfather and a tohunga tā moko - an expert traditional tattooist.

Haimona and Hariata had 11 children; their sixth child Tatiana was my great-grandmother. Her daughter was Maudie, my grandmother, who had my father - Haimona.

Hāriata had a hard life. She worked the land with her sister Ripeka (who married her first husband Charles). On foot, they would drive cattle and sheep between various farming stations in the Taihape district. Hāriata was in her 30s when she married Haimona and was still having children into her early 40s.

She died in 1910 when she was 52 years old. Haimona had left her and remarried and some say she died of a broken heart.

Hāriata's last years were spent in a little whare with a dirt floor up the river in a settlement called Ranana where until her dying day, she refused to utter a word of English.

• Lisa Reweti is the public programmes presenter at the Whanganui Regional Museum.