Pātaka Art + Museum was proud to host Whiti Te Rā! – the Story of Ngāti Toa Rangatira, our local iwi.
The exhibition explored the successes, dramatic setbacks, and extraordinary resurgence of Ngāti Toa Rangatira in objects, sound, stories and video.
The exhibition began with the Te Heke Mai Raro, the Southern Migration 200 years ago, when Te Rauparaha lead the iwi to the Wellington region. Taonga reputed to belong to Te Rauparaha and his daughter are on display.
Weapons, carvings and tiki told he story of war, love and some Ngati Toa heroines.
The exhibition charted the progress of the iwi through their economic rise of the 1820s and 1830s to the bitter conflicts with the colonial government of the 1840s and 1850s.
The story continued into the 20th century, following the iwi through two world wars and onto their fight for redress over previous injustices, and their Treaty settlement. Explore the ANZAC story, and work your way through a treaty settlement on the interactive kiosks.
A cornerstone of the exhibition is an interactive video telling the story of Te Rauparaha’s famous haka Ka Mate, the last line of which lends us the exhibition’s title, Whiti Te Rā!
