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Overview
In the early 1920s, New Zealanders John (Jack) and Edith Paterson travelled intermittently between New Zealand and the Cook Islands. John's experience as a slip master for the Wellington Patent Slip Company (Ltd) was put to use when helping to build the Avarua wharf in Rarotonga. They had also been present in the Cook Islands during the 1924 Hurricane.
The Paterson's were gifted several portable items by locals such as fans and baskets, often with their initials "J" or "E" woven into the items. Following John's death in 1954, Edith donated their small collection to the Dominion Museum (Te Papa's predecessor). Almost 60 years later, John and Edith's grand-nieces brought to Te Papa's attention a pāreu kiri'au (hula skirt) that was collected by the Paterson's and sent via post from Rarotonga to Edith's niece Emma Joan Prouse when she was a young girl. This pāreu with its provenance to the Paterson's, provides a useful comparison to other pāreu held in the museum's collection from the 1920s.