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Museum of New Zealand

Te Papa Tongarewa

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International visitor tickets

Te ao Māori: Mātauranga, culture, language, and history

Here you will discover online stories of Tangata Whenua– the Indigenous people of Aotearoa.

Read about mātauranga andtaonga, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, te reo Māori resources, and stories of resistance and contemporary identity.

If you are looking for what is on in the museum, check out the Exhibitions page.

Help us make more resources like this, donate today.

Current highlights

  • matariki-night sky with designed star on it

    Matariki: The Māori New Year

    Learn all about Matariki and see our events. Matariki is a time to gather with family and friends to reflect on the past, celebrate the present, and plan for the future.

  • Four double-hulled vessels sailing in a line on very still water in a harbour.

    Waka hourua

    Find out about navigating the Pacific, the knowledge revival of building of waka hourua (double-hulled vessels) and navigation, and sharing the mātauranga (Māori knowledge) and experiences in the process.

Pivotal events for Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand

Explore historical events, documents, the foundational relationships between Māori and European settlers in New Zealand, and protest movements that have shaped Māori history.

  • Close up of the Te Tiriti ki Waikato-Manukau | Waikato-Manukau sheet, showing the beginning of the English text

    The Treaty of Waitangi

    It is celebrated and argued over. It contains contradictions, and yet it offers clarity. It has a rocky past, but it is providing New Zealanders with new ways forward. It is the Treaty of Waitangi – this nation’s founding agreement.

  • A black rectangle with a faint Māori design in the background with words in silver that say Te Maori 40th Anniversary

    Te whakaaturanga o Te Maori – Toi Māori ki te ao

    From 1984 to 1986, the exhibition Te Maori was a pivotal moment in Māori cultural revival showcasing traditional artwork on the international stage. It is widely acclaimed as an exhibition that changed the way that museums and art galleries interpreted and managed taonga Māori.

  • A black and white photo of a lot of people marching along a wet road. There are cars alongside them.

    Māori Land March, 1975

    The 1975 Māori Land March expressed deep unrest over ongoing loss of Māori land. Led by 79-year-old Dame Whina Cooper, the protest march began in the far north town of Te Hāpua on 14 September 1975 with about 50 marchers and gained 60,000 signatures, and an estimated 5,000 marchers by the time it was presented it to Prime Minister Bill Rowling on the steps of Parliament in Wellington a month later on 13 October 1975.

Language and time: Maramataka, Matariki, and te reo Māori

Learn about te reo Māori at Te Papa, Māori concepts of time, Pacific navigation by the stars, using the Māori luni-solar calendar of the Maramataka, and the significance of the Matariki star cluster.

  • matariki-night sky with designed star on it

    Matariki: The Māori New Year

    Learn all about Matariki and see our events. Matariki is a time to gather with family and friends to reflect on the past, celebrate the present, and plan for the future.

  • Close photo of the moon.

    The Maramataka | Māori calendar

    The maramataka is a planting and fishing monthly almanac. For most iwi, the lunar months begin with the new moon (Whiro), but for others it begins with the full moon (Rākaunui). The start of each month is aligned to the morning rising of particular stars.

  • Four double-hulled vessels sailing in a line on very still water in a harbour.

    Waka hourua

    Find out about navigating the Pacific, the knowledge revival of building of waka hourua (double-hulled vessels) and navigation, and sharing the mātauranga (Māori knowledge) and experiences in the process.

  • Sailing vessel

    Voyage and discovery in the Pacific

    The history of the discovery of Aotearoa New Zealand goes back a millennium and contains the stories of many fine explorers, from Kupe to Cook. Here, explore Pacific exploration and European colonisation through our taonga, kōrero, and events.

Te ao Māori

Learn about te ao Māori, and practices in mahi toi Māori, gardening, taonga puoro, and mātauranga Māori.

  • Poi

    Learn about poi in our collections, explore stories intertwined with this practice, and watch the techniques and performances by kaumātua (respected elders) in te ao Māori.

  • Illustration of a tattooed Māori chief 1784

    Tā moko: The art and practice of Māori tattoo

    The practice of Māori tā moko developed on from Pacific tattooing in isolation. Find out about techniques, differences in tools and styles, photography and art, and aspects of early international trade in colonial collecting.

  • Kete whakairo (patterned bag), 1800-1833, New Zealand, maker unknown. Purchased 1977. Te Papa (ME013967)

    Māori weaving

    Learn about the goddess of te whare pora (the house of weaving) and the different types of weaving that are important in Aotearoa New Zealand.

  • Hue (calabash), 1800-1900, New Zealand, maker unknown. Bequest of Kenneth Athol Webster, 1971. Te Papa (WE000901)

    Māori musical instruments

    Read about different taonga puoro (Māori musical instruments) and discover what their original purposes were.

  • Manuka, Leptospermum scoparium J.R.Forst. & G.Forst., collected 02 Apr 2009, southern Wairarapa, New Zealand. CC BY-NC-NDCC licence. Te Papa (SP087325)

    Rongoā Māori

    Rongoā Māori is the traditional Māori healing system. Ailments are treated in a holistic manner.

  • Māori woman gardening with a tool called a timo

    Māori gardening tools

    Traditionally, Māori were essentially an agricultural people, with a large portion of their time and attention being given to cultivation.

  • Tāruke (crayfish pot), 2000, by John Puketapu. Te Papa (ME022091)

    Traditional Māori food gathering

    Before the arrival of metal tools and the gun, Māori used natural resources to make tools for hunting, fishing, eeling, and cultivating crops.

  • Tutaekuri. Image courtesy of Nick Roskruge.

    Māori potatoes

    Taewa (or rīwai) is a collective name for the varieties of potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) cultivated by Māori.

  • te-pahi-medal-display-700x525.jpg

    The story of the Te Pahi medal

    This medal is the first official state gift given to a Māori chief by a foreign leader. Yet this national treasure vanished from Aotearoa New Zealand for over 200 years.

Te ao Māori ki Te Papa Tongarewa

Te ao Māori at Te Papa: The collections, research, contemporary responses to historical taonga Māori housed at the national museum, and the impact of the 1984–86 international exhibition Te Maori on recognition of toi Māori, and it's role in the establishment of Te Papa.

  • A colourful stage within a room with sunlight through coloured windows bathing the room in shades of blue and purple

    Te Marae o Te Papa Tongarewa: Rongomaraeroa

    Rongomaraeroa is a unique marae (meeting place) within Aotearoa New Zealand. Like all marae, it is founded on Māori principles of kawa (marae protocol) and tikanga (cultural practices) it was created for our unique museum context as a contemporary marae acknowledging the whakapapa (ancestral history) and the taonga (treasures) of all peoples who call Aotearoa New Zealand home.

  • A black and white photo of a museum with everything jammed in together.

    Museum collecting: Acknowledging our Colonial past

    Our national museum’s history began in 1865, and early documentation wasn't as thorough or careful as it is today. Curator Mātauranga Māori Amber Aranui takes us back to this creatively documented time and what it means for tracking our collection items.

  • Illustration of a stylised Māori patu with a whale tail and the words Ika Moana Ika Whenua

    Ika moana ika whenua

    Two studies that will help us understand how the relationship between Māori and cetaceans has changed since people first arrived in Aotearoa by combining mātauranga Māori (traditional Māori knowledge) with techniques used in archaeological science to tell this story. 

  • A black rectangle with a faint Māori design in the background with words in silver that say Te Maori 40th Anniversary

    Te whakaaturanga o Te Maori – Toi Māori ki te ao

    From 1984 to 1986, the exhibition Te Maori was a pivotal moment in Māori cultural revival showcasing traditional artwork on the international stage. It is widely acclaimed as an exhibition that changed the way that museums and art galleries interpreted and managed taonga Māori.

  • The Māori Meeting House

    Taonga Māori books

    Discover some of the deep sea’s most bizarre creatures. It’s as close to science fiction as you can get without special effects.

Māori and museum practice

This section looks at the intersection of Indigenous perspectives and professional curatorial work, highlighting how mātauranga, values, and international repatriation of kōiwi tangata Māori and kōimi t’chakat work guide contemporary museum practices.