default-output-block.skip-main
National | Auction

Kīngitanga to bid for King Korokī photograph at charity auction

Photo / Wayne Harman

Photographs that capture some of Aotearoa's most iconic moments in history will be auctioned for charity Saturday afternoon - and representatives of the Kīngitanga are understood to be among those to have expressed interest, an RNZ report says.

The Photojournalism New Zealand Charity Auction organiser Rob Tucker - a former New Zealand Herald picture editor who has terminal cancer - told RNZ the Kīngitanga are interested in an image captured by photographer Wayne Harman of King Korokī's casket being carried to the burial grounds on Taupiri Maunga.

"It's a photo taken in 1966 and it's a very powerful photograph and I got surprised last week when the King's office at Tūrangawaewae contacted me to say they would like to buy that image for their archives."

Tucker is reported to have "politely explained it was too late to withdraw the image from the auction".

The Kīngitanga, who are said to be aware it is being sold for charity, are organising for someone to bid on their behalf, Tucker told RNZ.

The photograph appeared on the front of the Herald at the time and subsequently went around the world.