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Whare Taonga
Mataatua
Season 1
,
Episode 1
For Ngāti Awa the return and restoration of their grand wharenui Mataatua, after more than 100 years, is an event of enormous emotional and historical significance. The whare, built in 1875, left home in 1879 on the orders of the Government, which sent it as an exhibit to Sydney, Melbourne, London and then Dunedin. By the time it was returned to Ngāti Awa in 1996 as part of a Treaty of Waitangi settlement, Mataatua was badly damaged; its restoration and reopening in 2011 was an emotionally and historically significant event for the tribe.