This catalogue based on the exhibition: Te Marae o Rongotaketake - Redressing our Kahungunu History
aimed to publicly present the Treaty settlement to both the iwi community and the wider public. It enabled discovery and relearning some of the key events that happened during this historical period - the loss and disenfranchisement, as well as the iwi's hopes and aspirations post-settlement.'
Aratoi Museum sourced taonga nationally and internationally for this large-scale project. Among the items that were on display: waka, wahaika, harakeke waistcoat, several korowai (cloaks), hei tiki, hinaki (eel trap), shark tooth necklace, whale ivory amulets, pounamu spearheads, fish hooks, adzes, adze heads, and needles. Along the highest wall of the museum stood the entire front of a wharenui carved by Te Nahu Haeata for the Te Ore Ore Marae; it had recently been restored.
The exhibition also included several works from contemporary artists: Tom Donald, Ngataiharuru Taepa and Rongomaiaia Te Whaiti. Some of the Gottfried Lindauer portraits had returned from the major exhibition at Auckland Art Gallery. Others had never been displayed in public before.
