These images show a few of the precious taonga that we have alongside us in Courtroom 6 as our High Court hearing progresses.

 

• The garment is a piupiu belonging to Te Hunahuna, one of the tūpuna who was on the land when the New Zealand Company arrived in the 1840s.

 

• The portraits depict our tūpuna. These include portraits of Tāmati Pirimona Marino and Huria Matenga, tūpuna on the land when the New Zealand Company arrived. These are replicas of the originals painted by Gottfried Lindauer and held in the national collection at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki.

 

• The pounamu tiki is a Te Hunahuna whānau taonga.

 

The taonga themselves are physical representations of our ancestors and the rituals to bring them into the court are steeped in tradition.

 

They resonate with the mana of our tūpuna and remind us that our ancestors are present in the taonga, and within ourselves.

 

During the court’s vacated weeks, we uplift the taonga ritually, and lay them again before the court when the hearing resumes.