Repatriation of Maori remains from Lund University

On 29 April Maori remains - which had been held in the collections of the Historical Museum in Lund - were formally handed over to the National Museum of New Zealand (Te Papa) for repatriation.

The remains of the three Maoris, two men and a woman, were found in 1876 in New Zealand’s North Island. Via London, they ended up at the Historical Museum in Lund. Representatives from Te Papa travelled from New Zealand to receive the remains, and to accompany them home to New Zealand. The ceremony was attended also by the Ambassador, H E Ms Barbara Bridge.

The Ambassador said in her speech that the repatriation represents the culmination of lengthy efforts of Te Papa to bring safely home the remains of these fellow country men and women to their own homeland in a spiritually powerful way: "The identity of these people may not be scientifically known, but in Maori culture they still belong to a whanau, or family, and this means that they have a spiritual connection to the homeland. The land. The waters. And the seas. Through today’s repatriation, they will also be re-linked physically." 

The Ambassador also thanked the Historical Museum in Lund and the government of Sweden for their "exemplary" co-operation.