Context (CMS Context)
(Bio) Dr. Amiria Henare (nee Salmond), Curator of Anthropology, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology 2003-2009

‘This booklet was previously unlocated and assumed to have been mistakenly accessioned as 2006.607 C and this number was removed by Dr. Henare from the register, and the A-B suffixes removed in April 2008. The object has now been relocated and the number restored in the register. R.Hand 11/9/2009’
Event Date 1/12/2005
Author: maa

Description (Physical description)
Record for 2005.606 A-C notes: A- Carved bone koauau; a handcarved flute; faces carved down the front; holes take the place of the mouths; opal inlays for eyes; intricate carving of surface design; triangular at top; circular and smaller at bottom; slight curve to body.
B: booklet ‘Taonga Puoro- Singing Treasures; The Musical Instruments of the Maori’ detailing ‘Koaua Maui’- A Maori Flute’ which includes photographs of the maker and other Maori musical intruments; informations on maker and Maori intruments, identifying and explaining context, use and significance in Maori tradition.
Event Date 1/12/2005
Author: maa

Research Visit (Anthropology Documents)
RES.2018.2469 | Dr Irene Hundley is working on a research project titled ‘The origins and development of pre-European contact musical instruments in Aotearoa (New Zealand) and Rēkohu (Chatham Islands).’ This study, which is being funded by the Royal Society of New Zealand (UOO-1622), aims to discover how the first southern Polynesian colonists of New Zealand and the Chathams – and their descendants – adapted tropical musical instruments and traditions to the new resources of a large, cool-seasonal continental island group.
A key aspect of this mahi involves documenting the taonga pūoro held in museum collections around the world. The aim is to learn a lot about the instruments’ age and place of manufacture by examining their carving styles, manufacture techniques and materials, and (where available) provenance information.
Event Date 17/5/2018
Author: Remke Velden