Kahu huruhuru (feather cloak)

This striking cloak once belonged to Mākereti Papakura. Mākereti was known as Guide Maggie and was a tourist guide of the Whakarewarewa geothermal village in Rotorua, around the turn of the twentieth century. 


Guide Maggie
Mākereti was descended from Ngāti Wāhiao and Tāhourangi hapū (sub-tribe) of Te Arawa through her mother, Pia Ngarotū. In 1901 Mākereti famously guided the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York through the Whakarewarewa sights, becoming the darling of the press and gaining international recognition. As well as being a sought after guide, Mākereti went on to organise her people as a group of Māori cultural performers to Australia and the United Kingdom from 1909-11.

In 1912 Mākereti married Richard Staples-Browne, a weathly Englishman from Oxfordshire and England became her home. At Oxford University Mākereti enrolled in a Bachelor of Science degree in Anthropology and recorded her childhood, tribal customs and traditions as part of her studies. She died in 1930, before completing her thesis. Her writings were published eight years later in Old-Time Maori, which remains a lasting legacy of her remarkable life.

This kahu huruhuru was identified as originating from Mākereti's collection, as photographs in The Old-Time Maori, featured Mākereti and her relations wearing these cloaks. This kahu huruhuru belonged to Mākereti's mother, Pia Ngarotū.


Construction
The kaupapa (foundation) of this cloak is muka (New Zealand flax fiber)  twined in whatu aho rua (two-pair weft twining) technique, measuring approximately five whenu (warp threads) pre centimetre with 8-9 mm spacing beween each aho (weft row). Six rows of white kererū (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae) feathers are bordered and patterned with lines of red kākā (Nestor meridionalis) and light green kākāriki (Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae) feathers. Between the white triangles are dark green inverse triangles of kererū feathers with tuī (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae) feathers. A wide row of white between two rows of dark green feathers at the top and bottom of the cloak adds contrast. Lengths of whenu extend at each top corner as a fringe.

This text is based on an excerpt from Whatu Kakahu|Maori Cloaks (second edition), edited by Awhina Tamarapa, © Te Papa Press 2019.