Stumbled-upon by hunters, who wisely draped it with wet seaweed to shelter it from the drying air, the 'canoe prow', or tau ihu that emerged from the far flung Stewart Island beach had a lucky rebirth. It might have been discovered by treasure hunters and quietly sold off to some overseas collector, or spotted by people who didn't know that exposure to the air would cause the long-buried piece to crack and crumble back into the sands without special treatment. But that's what the tau ihu received - special treatment, right down the line. Careful recovery from the cold sands, air-freighting to Auckland museum to bathe in chemicals designed to replace seawater with preservative, back to Murihiku where it sat under a glass case at the Southland Museum and Art Gallery until it was needed for the Mo Tatou exhibition at Te Papa and now, back home, for a while at least, as the exhibition of Kai Tahu art and artifact tours the country.
It starts today, with a 'dawn ceremony' (the day is as clear as a note from a putorino!) and shows until the 14th of November..
It's a must-see and I will see it soon.
Tino pai te mahi o Kai Tahu Whanui.
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