Neke noa atu i te kotahi rau ngā taonga nō tētahi pā tawhito i Te Moana-a-Toi kua whakahokia ki te iwi nō rātou ngā kura kāmehameha nei. Kua tiakina ēnei taonga e ngā mātanga mātai whaipara whenua, whaipara tāngata hoki o Te Whare Wānanga o Tāmaki Makaurau, he mea hukea i Te Kohika, he pā o Ngāti Awa i tūpono kitea i ngā mahi manga i ngā repo o Rangitāiki i ngā tau whā tekau neke atu ki muri nei.
Nō ngā tau kotahi mano, e whitu rau ēnei taonga i whakahokia ki a Ngāti Awa i tētahi hui tuku i tū ki Waipapa Marae, i te whare wānanga o Tāmaki i te ata hāpara nei i mua i te hokinga atu ki Whakatāne.
Hei tā Mark Sykes o Te Whare Taonga Ō Taketake ki Whakatāne, kua roa nei rātou e tatari ana kia whakahokia ēnei taonga ki te kāinga, kia hono atu ai ki ngā taonga nō Te Kohinga kua whakahokia kētia.
"We're looking forward to having the collection within Te Whare Taketake but also knowing that the collection is waiting to be talked about and to open and tell the stories of our people.
It's such a glimpse into our past and I think looking into your past makes you look into your future so it's important for Ngāti Awa, and all the iwi actually around the rohe of Whakatāne, so I think it's a real good chance for these taonga to talk to our people."
Kua tekau mā rua tau ēnei taonga e rangahaua ana e Te Whare Wānanga o Tāmaki, he mea kitea e ngā kaiahuwhenua pākeha i te houhounga o Te Kohika Pā i te tau whitu tekau mā rima. I reira te Ahorangi Mātai Whaipara Tangata o mua, a Geoffrey Irwin i te tīmatanga.
"It's unique in NZ. We've got this view of this village on a little island with a palisade and a whole series of households around the shore, each of them with their own jetty or canoe landing place. It was a bit like a modern marina."
Ko te pou rangahau matua o Te Kura Tikanga-a-Iwi o Te Whare Wānanga o Tāmaki, ko Dilys Johns kua tekau tau e mahi ana me ēnei taonga.
"The site is really important because of the layers, the stratigraphy of the site tells us the dates, and when things happened, and we slot the taonga into those timeframes and then we're able to tell a story."
Nā te waipuke te pā i whakarerea, ā e rua rau, e whitu tekau ngā tau i noho urutapu ai, ko ngā taonga i atawhaitia i te repo. E whakaarotia ana, koinei te mahinga whaipara tangata nui whakaharahara i ngā tau.
"There is a lot of fibre work here and we don't usually get fibre work on an archaeological site because it has disintegrated," te kī a Johns.
"So there were lovely things here like kete, lots of braiding and in terms of the wood there's whakairo and there's patu and there's a spatula, there's a whole range of artefacts and materials that would have been used in everyday Māori life."
"The oldest discovered whare whakairo is there with carved poupou and it just gives us a wonderful view of what things were like before Europeans showed up," te kōrero a Irwin, he mātanga kua mahi ki New South Wales, ki New Guinea, ki Ngā Horomona, ki Whītī, Indonesia hoki.
"It's been a privilege to have been involved with Te Kohika and working with Ngāti Awa over some time."
Kua tukuna e te ohu tiaki, e Te Kohika Trust, ngā taonga kia tiakina i Te Whare Taonga O Taketake i Whakatāne, kia rangahaua me te whakaaro, ā tōna wā tata pea, ka whakakitea ki te ao.
