Partnership with Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira

In December 2025 a rare 18th century pauku (war cloak, DUROM.1971.232.B) was loaned from the Oriental Museum to the Auckland Museum for five year research and exhibition project. This is the culmination of eight years of planning and preparation by Oriental Museum curators and partners in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

Under the care of the Te Aho Mutanga Kore, the Museum's textile and fibre knowledge exchange centre for Māori and Pasifika communities, the pauku is being made accessible to knowledge holders, creative practioners and communities. 

Guided by Auckland Museum’s Māori curatorial team and the Museum’s tohunga expert weavers advisory group, Taumata Māreikura, the project will support meaningful engagement with the mātauranga (knowledge), artistry and innovation embodied in this remarkable taonga (treasure).

Find out more about this project: Hiwa-i-te-rangi: Returning, Reconnecting, Reawakening which has been supported by the British Council's Connections through Cultures grant and Creative New Zealand.  

Dr Rangi Te Kanawa, who undertook the conservation and preparation of the pauku ready for travel, introduces the cloak to staff at Auckland Museum in December 2025