Te Whare Taonga ki Kawatea
When Kōtukumairangi was paddled down the Ōpara River on Waitangi Day this year it marked 20 years since the waka had been formally gifted to Ngāi Tahu by the late Murray Thacker (1933-2017), founder of the Okains Bay Māori and Colonial Museum. Craig Pauling and Iaean Cranwell have been the unofficial kaitiaki of Kōtukumairangi for much of that time, taking responsibility for training and coordination of paddlers, and overseeing care and maintenance of the waka, in collaboration with museum volunteers and staff. In so doing they have been contributing to the intergenerational history of Ngāi Tahu involvement with the museum (and its famous Waitangi Day commemorations) that stretches back almost half a century.
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