Three years in the making, "Koiwi Tangata: Te wawata o Ngai Tahu e pa ana ki nga taoka koiwi o nga tupuna" was produced in order to provide a tribal policy on koiwi tangata in which the tribal opinions were not compromised by the interests of museums as is the case in the policies introduced by the then National Museum (1988), Canterbury Museum (1991) and the Southland Museum and Art Gallery (1988). A feature common to these internal museum policies is that any action on koiwi tangata is at the discretion of the director of the respective museum, and with the exception of the Southland Museum policy does not facilitate the re-burial of koiwi tangata.

A committee responsible to Te Runanganui o Tahu, the Ngai Tahu tribal authority, was established to develop the Iwi's first ever written policy on a heritage issue. The committee, now named Komiti Tuku Iho and responsible for further heritage policy development, includes Ngai Tahu professionally involved in museums and archaeology. It was therefore able to ensure that the tribal policy clearly addressed issues of concern to museums and anthropology, as well as other matters internal to the tribe.

Komiti Tuku Iho identified three general goals with regard to museums that must result from implementation of the policy:

1. Authority and control over the bones of our tupuna must be re-vested in the tribe and not maintained by museums.

2. Academic research on koiwi tangata should continue where appropriate but on terms sensitive to, and accountable to the tribe.

3. Wahi Tapu (designated rooms) should be formed in selected museums to facilitate the management and research of koiwi tangata.

To be effective the policy needed to address the concerns often presented by museums when considering koiwi tangata. Of particular importance it had to state how the museums could have confidence that they are dealing with the appropriate people and how the issue of unlocalised remains could be resolved. In response to these concerns the Ngai Tahu policy only claims effect over Polynesian remains for which:

• the identity of the individual is now known.
• the original burial was within the traditional rohe (area) of Ngai Tahu whanui as confirmed by the Waitangi Tribunal (Wai 27) and the Privy Council, 1991.
• have not been turned or incorporated into an artefact.
• the locality of the original burial is now known but the remains are held within a collection based within the traditional rohe of the tribe.

That the tribe has had its boundaries confirmed by legal processes and stood the test of cross claims should give the museums confidence that the correct people are being dealt with. In the event that this was ever brought into question, given the findings of the Waitangi Tribunal and the Privy Council, museums who have responded positively to the koiwi tangata policy will be able to show themselves to have acted prudently at the time.

Disclaiming jurisdiction over remains conceivably ancestral to Ngai Tahu but originally buried outside of the tribe's traditional rohe in effect recognises the 'manawhenua' of Iwi occupying such other regions today. By way of example, Ngai Tahu lay no claim to bones in the Wairarapa although they may indeed be ancestral to Ngai Tahu and Ngati Mamoe. As a result the tribe has presented museums a clear and concise model for identifying the appropriate people with whom to deal. While based on and reflecting traditional constructs the model is effective for today's requirements.

The other contentious issue is that of continued scientific consideration of Polynesian remains - a preserve that many museums feel obliged to protect. In their policy Ngai Tahu Whanui clearly state that they have a preference for burial sites to remain undisturbed. It is implied that remains in collections should immediately be reinterred. Notwithstanding this, however, the policy has recognised "that scholarly investigation of koiwi tangata can further an understanding of the lives of our tupuna" and that "appropriate research in this area [is] a legitimate scientific interest". The implementation of the policy will see a system set in place to facilitate such research. Researchers will be made to be accountable to the tribe in the first instance rather than academic peers and work must be carried out with due sensitivity. Nonetheless, the door on this kind of research has not been closed at all, but rather the challenge has been introduced of researchers being accountable to a community group. The major implication here is that should academics wish the tribe not to proceed with the automatic reburial of any given bones, the tribe will respond accordingly provided that they can be shown sufficiently good reason to break with normal tikanga. In brief, the tribe will make koiwi tangata available for research when a good case can be presented, but not merely for the sake of it.

In order to cater for this provision of the policy Ngai Tahu has suggested that four museums within its rohe should be recognised as keeping places. Each of these institutions would establish wahi tapu (designated rooms) within their walls into which koiwi awaiting re-burial or scholarly investigation would be placed. In providing this facility the museums would be offering the Iwi a means of realising this commitment and, so, would be aiding the access to koiwi by scholars. That the Ngai Tahu Koiwi Tangata policy carefully addresses these issues and provides effective models for the future management of koiwi tangata allows museums to place aside minor issues and address the 'crunch' question ... "should the tribal remains be returned to tribal control"? This was the question Te Runanganui o Tahu presented the southern regional museums in a meeting held at Arowhenua Marae, 1993. The Southland Museum and Art Gallery's then current in-house policy already reflected much of the Ngai Tahu policy which undoubtedly made it easier for that Museum's Trust Board to respond positively to this question.

Historically the Southland Museum and Art Gallery has had a strong association with Iwi, and Maori have been represented on the Board of Trustees from 1916 onwards. From the early days of its inception, up to about 1960, the Museum has accepted a number of Maori human bones, independently collected and donated by the public of Southland. The Museum acknowledged however, that there was a need to formulate a policy for these koiwi tangata and to provide them a more culturally appropriate storage facility. The matter was discussed at a public hui at Te Rau Aroha Marae (Bluff) 1988, and at a subsequent meeting with Kaumatua held at the Museum. The consensus of the meeting was that the Museum should retain a small reference collection of Maori human bone under the following conditions:

a. The reference collection should be rechecked for bones no longer required - these should then be given reburial with appropriate protocol.

b. A special restricted non-public repository within the Museum should be established for the care of the remaining Maori human bone.

c. No further Maori bones should be added to the Museum's reference collection.

Following the 1993 Arowhenua meeting the Southland Museum and Art Gallery revised its own policy. Ngai Tahu proposals were enthusiastically accepted and unanimously approved by the Museum's Trust Board, and the Museum's new policy on human remains was formalised in August 1993.

In a landmark decision for New Zealand museums, the Southland Museum and Art Gallery passed control of koiwi tangata within the Museum over to Ngai Tahu. The key phrase in the Museum's collection management policy reads ...

"Southland Museum and Art Gallery acknowledges the Ngai Tahu policy on Koiwi Tangata of June 1993 and agrees to place its research collection of Maori human remains under Ngai Tahu management and authority (kaitiakitanga) as specified in the Foundation Principles and Statement of Jurisdiction of their policy".

As part of the Museum's new policy therefore, a wahi tapu for koiwi tangata was constructed within the non-public storage area. This was first approved by southern runanga and later also requested by Te Runanganui o Tahu. The wahi tapu was formally dedicated by Iwi in a special ceremony, attended by some sixty people, on 14 February 1994. The already well recognised relationship between the Iwi and the Museum has been further cemented and one of the most contentious issues within the Maori - museum relationship has been addressed in Southland to the full satisfaction of both parties.

[This paper was first published in the New Zealand Museums Journal volume 24, number 1, 1994; and with the editor's permission is reproduced here as a electronic publication]