A cloak of kākāpō feathers

Scotland’s Perth Museum is the only museum worldwide known to have a cloak fully covered with feathers from kākāpō (night parrot). The cloak is a reminder of the cultural significance of this rare bird for Māori.

The significance of kākāpō

The large flightless kākāpō (Strigops habroptilus) - with its striking green feathers and mysterious nocturnal habits - held great cultural and spiritual value for Māori. A kākāpō-feather cloak would only have been woven for a person of high status.

This bird is now one of the rarest parrots in the world, saved from extinction only by an intensive programme of care and management.

Construction of the cloak

This cloak includes around 11,000 kākāpō feathers, with a few from kākā hidden among them - possibly only two. The feathers are attached to a foundation of muka (flax fibre).

The red and black wool decorating the upper edge suggest that the cloak was probably made in the early 1800s, after European contact.

The cloak’s history

This cloak was acquired by Scotsman David Ramsay, a natural-history collector and ship's surgeon who settled in Sydney in 1822. Over the next 20 years, he collected ‘curiosities’ - perhaps from ships' captains or from auction rooms - and sent them back to Scotland.

In 1842, Ramsay's collection was gifted to the Perth Museum.

Other kākāpō-feather cloaks

Cloaks containing kākāpō feathers are rare in museum collections. Te Papa has only one such cloak - a kahu kiwi (kiwi-feather cloak), in which a few kākāpō feathers are scattered among the predominant kiwi feathers.