Ceremony held at Te Papa to honour return of toimoko

Te Papa Tongarewa will welcome toimoko home
from Rouen Museum in France this afternoon.
The French Government has agreed to return eight toimoko to Aotearoa,
but only one will be returned today.
My understanding that's all.
However, they are able to get three to five into one box.
The toimoko were given to the Rouen Museum in France in 1875.
Some are said to hail from Kahungunu
but where exactly hasn't been confirmed.
The main thing is the French Government has agreed
that they be returned to Aotearoa.
We now have a repatriation path.
Another issue that still puzzles Te Papa curators
is determining the origins of the toimoko.
Researchers back then never documented where they came from.
That's the challenge now - finding out why our ancestor ended up there.
To date, more than 300 Toimoko have repatriated to Aotearoa.
Joe Glen, Te Karere.