News / University of Bristol
University of Bristol to return sacred Māori rocks
The University of Bristol’s decision to return sacred Māori rocks is recognition of their purpose beyond science.
The ancient volcanic rocks are being returned by the School of Earth Sciences to a mountain in New Zealand.
The rocks were originally taken as scientific specimens from North Island by geologist Geoff Kilgour over a decade ago, with the intention of improving understanding of the 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera which killed up to 150 people, nearly all of them Māori.
Kilgour received verbal permission from a Māori elder to collect the rocks for research in the UK, on the condition that they would be returned after their use for scientific analysis.
A traditional waerea ceremony took place at the London Māori club, Ngāti Rānana, to lift the tapu (sacredness) off the rocks and to spiritually clear the path for their return home.
The repatriation constitutes a landmark acknowledgement of the cultural and spiritual value that the rocks have for Māori communities by the University of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences.
Ahead of their return to New Zealand, they are currently central to an exhibition in the Wills Memorial Building.
This combination of art works and text installations at the Migrating Rocks exhibition was created by Alyson Hallett to unpack the role that she believes natural objects should have in repatriation debates, as well as the idea of reciprocity.
Exhibition curator, Claudia Hildebrandt, said: “Across the world, laws often treat land and natural resources as things that can be owned or sold, rather than recognising their deeper cultural and spiritual importance to communities.
“In Aotearoa, however, Māori see themselves as guardians of the land and some of the mountains and rivers have received legal personhood over the past decade.
“Honouring the verbal agreement to reunite the rocks with the local community is a very important step towards normalising ethical collecting and collection management, including return.’’
The Migrating Rocks exhibition is open to the public at the Wills Memorial Building every Wednesday afternoon from 2pm to 5pm until August
Main photo: University of Bristol
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