I whitikina tētahi tawhera e te aho i a Nicky Deeley e pupuru ana, ka tiro ai ētahi kanohi nō tērā rautau ki a ia.
When Nicky Deeley held a small glass slide to the light, a pair of eyes looked back at her over a century of time.
Read this story in English here.
Ki te pouaka i kitea ai e te kaihautū o Te Whare Taonga o Ōtorohanga i tētahi pae ki te kāpata, kua tata 100 ngā tōraro, nā whai anō, he tirohanga ki te onamata Māori tē tino kitea nei, me te mārama hoki.
In the box the Ōtorohanga Museum director had found stashed on top of an old wardrobe lay almost 100 negatives, giving a view into a bygone Māori world rarely captured in such clarity.
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Engari, ka whakaritea tonutia ngā whakaahua kia oroko whakaatu ki te marea, tērā tonu he kura huna – ko wai hoki ngā tāngata ki ngā whakaahua?
But, as the stunning historical photographs are prepared to be shown to the public for the first time, a mystery remains – who are the people in the pictures?
Kua kīia nei he taonga te eminga nei a ngā tūpuna, e pupū ake ai ngā kare ā-roto me te ngākau hihiko i a Ngāti Maniapoto mō ngā tūpuna te take.
The collection is described as an ancestral treasure trove stirring strong emotions and excitement amongst the Ngāti Maniapoto iwi about tūpuna.
Āianei, e inoi ana Te Whare Taonga o Ōtorohanga ki te marea e tautuhia ai ngā kanohi i ngā whakaahua, nō te takiwā 1890-1910.
Now the Ōtorohanga Museum is appealing for public help to identify all the faces in the eye-catching photos, from around 1890-1910.
He whakakitenga ōna e tīmata ana ki te taha o te whare taonga hei ā Hātarei, ka mutu hei ā Tāite.
An exhibition of them is beginning beside the museum on Saturday and runs till Thursday.
Kelly Hodel/Stuff
E matea nei te tautoko e whakaingoatia ai ngā kanohi. / Help is needed to put names to faces. Pictured are Ōtorohanga Museum cultural adviser Pera Rangitaawa MacDonald, left, and director Nicky Deeley, with just a few of the amazing photos discovered last year.
I pāngia pai nei te kaitohu ahurea, te māngai komiti o te whare taonga, Pera Rangitaawa MacDonald, 82, i te kitenga tuatahi i ngā whakaahua, e whakapae nei he kiritata o te rohe, i whakaahuatia peatia e te kaiwhakaahua Pākehā nō te whānau Edwards.
Museum cultural advisor and committee member Pera Rangitaawa MacDonald, 82, was deeply affected when first shown the photos, believed to have been of local people and possibly taken by a Pākehā photographer from the Edwards family.
“Arā noa atu ngā kare ā-roto,” tā Pera (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Urunumia).
“It evoked a lot of emotion,” said MacDonald (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāti Urunumia).
“I tangihia tētahi karanga e mihia ai ērā tūpuna.”
“I let forth a karanga to mihi to those ancestors.”
E ai ki a Pera, he pērā ngā whakaahua i te hoki ki onamata, e tuwhera nei i te tatau ki te ao o ōna mātua. (I hinga tōna matua i te 1980 nōna e 116 tau ana, nā reira, kua whānau mai i ngā tau 1860, ā, kei ōna kaumātautanga 30 nō te 1900.)
MacDonald said the photos were like stepping back in time, opening a window into the earlier world of her parents. (Her father died in 1980 aged 116, putting his birth around the mid 1860s and his age in his mid-30s in 1900.)
Hei tā te kaihautū Nicky Deeley, kua nui te whakaeminga a te whare taonga i ngā rawa o mua nō muri mai i te tau 1958, me te waipuke rahi i pā mai ki te rohe.
Director Nicky Deeley said the museum had gathered a lot of historical material from 1958 after a major flood in the area.
Kelly Hodel/Stuff
Ko tētahi o ngā tōraro karaehe ki ngā ringa tūpato o te kaihautū whare taonga Nicky Deeley. / One of the glass negatives in the careful hands of museum director Nicky Deeley.
Kātahi, i te 2021, i kitea e ia tētahi whakakakaonga tōraro karaehe hanga 100 ki tētahi pae o runga ki te kāpata o tētahi whare ki te whare taonga. E whakapae ana ia, nā tētahi kaihautū o mua, Nan Owen, ngā taonga 5cm pūrua te rahi.
Then in 2021, she found a collection of about 100 glass negatives on top of the wardrobe in one of the buildings at the museum site. She believes an earlier director, Nan Owen, must have collected the 5cm by 5cm items.
“I tuwheratia te puka e au, ka kuha,” hei tāna, me te tere whakapā atu ki a Pera i muri tata mai i te tūhuratanga.
“I opened up the box and gasped,” she said, contacting MacDonald soon after about the discovery.
I meinga e Nicky tētahi tōraro ki te aho, “mea rawa ake, he kanohi e tiro mai ana”.
Deeley had held one of the negatives to the light and “suddenly you’ve got a pair of eyes looking back at you”.
Nā te tautoko a te Komiti Marae ā-Rohe o Nehenehenui, i tukuna ngā tōraro ki tētahi mātanga ki Tāmaki e whakapai ai, e matihiko ai, ā, kua waihangatia ētahi tānga nui.
With the help of the Nehenehenui Regional Marae Committee, involving local marae, the negatives were sent to an expert in Auckland for cleaning and digitising, and large print versions of the images have been created.
I te āhua nei, e kitea nei tētahi hui ki Kahotea Marae, tata nei ki Ōtorohanga, i te 1907, heoti, e matea nei te āwhina e whakaingoatia ai ngā kanohi e kitea ana.
It appears likely some show a hui at Kahotea Marae near Ōtorohanga in 1907, but help is now needed to put names to the many faces portrayed.
E whakapae nei kua mōhio ki tētahi tokorua – he kuia, he tāne hoki nō Ngāti Urunumia – he hōrapa nō ngā whakatairanga i te whakakitenga.
It’s believed two people – a kuia (older woman) and tāne (man) from Ngāti Urunumia – may already have been identified after photos of them circulated on posters for the exhibition.
Kelly Hodel/Stuff
E tiro ana a Nicky Deeley rāua ko Pera Rangitaawa MacDonald ki ngā tānga i ngā tōraro karaehe. / Nicky Deeley and Pera Rangitaawa MacDonald looking through the printed versions of the photos on the glass negatives.
Heoti he tokomaha tonu kia whakaingoatia.
But many of the people shown still need naming.
Mō te hirahira o te whakaingoa i ngā kanohi, kua pēnei tā Pera: “He aha e hirahira nei te whakapapa ki te tangata? He momo pakiaka nē hā… e kōrerohia ana koe.”
On why it was important to put names to faces, MacDonald said: “Why is whakapapa important to anybody? It’s ground roots stuff isn’t it…it’s who you are.”
He puipuiaki taonga ngā whakaahua nei e tūhono ai ngā iwi inamata ki ō rātou tūpuna, tā Pera.
The photos were a treasure trove providing connections between present day people and their tūpuna, MacDonald said.
“Nā te kite i ēnei tōraro, kua hoki mai ō rātou tūpuna.”
“To find these negatives, it helps people get their tūpuna back.”
Hei tā Nicky, ahakoa ka noho pū ngā tōraro ki te whare taonga e haumaru ai, e oti tonu i te tangata te tā i ngā tāruatanga mēnā e hiahia ana ki tētahi whakaahua o ōna tūpuna.
Deeley said that, while the actual negatives would remain with the museum for safe-keeping, they could be used to print copies for those wanting a photo of their tūpuna.
Kua tapaina te whakakitenga ko Illuminated – Ngā Whaiwhakaahua, ā, e tīmata ana hei te 10am Hātarei ki te Great Hall e tata nei ki te whare taonga ki 15 Kakamutu Rd, Ōtorohanga, mutu ana hei te Tāite e whai ake ana.
The exhibition, entitled Illuminated – Ngā Whaiwhakaahua, starts at 10am Saturday in the Guide Hall beside the museum at 15 Kakamutu Rd, Ōtorohanga, and runs till the following Thursday.
Mutu ana tēnā, ka wātea mai ngā whakaahua kia tirohia hei ngā hāora māori a te whare taonga, ina tāpuia rānei.
Afterwards, the images will remain available for view during normal museum hours or by appointment.
He mea whakamāori e te Kaihautū Reo Māori ki Puna, e Taurapa.
Translation by Stuff Kaihautū Reo Māori Taurapa.
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