waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa - Te Ropu Whakahau

HERITAGE MĀORI MMANUSCRIPTSACKNOWLEDGED BY UNESCOMEMORY OF THE WORLDPROGRAMMEAs Pou Ārahi Taonga at Auckland LibrariesRobert Eruera has responsibility for the promotionand preservation of heritage Māoritaonga within the Sir George Grey Special Collections.As he describes, “the taonga lookafter me, not the other way around.”Robert’s specialist knowledge of these taongahas ensured that unique Māori manuscriptsfrom Auckland Libraries’ Sir George Grey SpecialCollections are among the first documentsofficially inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory ofthe World New Zealand register.He mihi tēnei ki a koe e te rangatira e RobertEruera, na to ngākaunui ki tēnei mahi i tutukipai tēnei kaupapa.The UNESCO Memory of the World Programmedeveloped from a growing awarenessto preserve and open up access to heritagedocumentation throughout the world.The Grey New Zealand Māori Manuscript collectionconsists of 147 items donated by SirGeorge Grey as part of the Governor’s gift tothe city of Auckland.The shared vision was to record and documentthe Māori world view for future generationsbefore it disappeared under colonial change.The value of this taonga is validated by Māoriand non-Māori interests that have accessedthe collection for information that could add,support and reinforce hapū or iwi identity andassist te reo Māori retention and rendition.Grey’s collection was gifted to the AucklandFree Public Library (now Auckland Libraries), in1887 and consists of 14,000 manuscripts, lettersand books, and commonly known as ‘TheGovernor's Gift‘. The Māori material of thegifting consisted of artefacts, manuscripts,early published books and newspapers, lettersand telegrams.For more information about the New ZealandMemory of the World Programme go tohttp://www.unescomow.org.nz/For details about the Grey New Zealand MāoriManuscript Collection go to http://www.georgegrey.org.nz/TheCollection/Explore/id/5/collection/manuscriptsmaori.aspxwww.aucklandlibraries.govt.nzIt is a cultural and historical record of pre-European examples of Māori knowledge andinformation and documents mātaurangaMāori in relation to waiata, whakataukī, tikanga,mōteatea, whakapapa and traditionspertaining to various iwi and hapū.15